This celebration of America recalls the highlights that define this country, and offers insight into what it means to be an American. Charming, accessible, and comprehensive, this jam-packed anthology takes you on a guided tour through the history of our great nation. Its elements include:

18 short stories and literary excerpts from the fictional works of Harper Lee, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville, Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, Alice Walker, J.D. Salinger, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and Louisa May Alcott, among others.

14 poems by such poets as Walt Whitman, e.e. cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and Emily Dickinson.

20 essays and speeches by great American political leaders and commentators, including Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr., Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, and E.B. White.

18 letters that capture American history in the making by John and Abigail Adams, John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Ansel Adams, and Grouch Marx, as well as other lesser-known Americans.

20 classic American songs, including: "America the Beautiful," "The Star Spangled Banner," "This Land Is Your Land," "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "O, Susanna!", and "Casey at the Bat."

15 classic recipes including: Apple Pie, Fried Chicken, Strawberry Ice Cream, Thanksgiving Turkey, Corn Bread, Black-eyed Peas, Hamburgers, and Buttermilk Pancakes.

15 "Facts" highligh fascinating trivia on every state, and cover topics such as Presidents, State Capitols, World War II, Science and Invention, Artists, Outlaws, The West, The Civil War, American Towns, and other American claims to fame.

This book is destined to become the one every American will want to turn to in order to remember - or learn for the first time - what constitutes a true American classic.