The Book for America's 250th
FINDING OUR WORDS: Words That Made America is a collection of some of the most inspiring words spoken by American leaders since our founding, with every speech launched with a prefacing essay by Tracy Lee Simmons, acclaimed journalist and author of Climbing Parnassus, a popular case for classical education in America. In the essays, Simmons shows how each speech fits into the broad mosaic of the American story. Commerce with these words offers us one path back to citizenship, decency, and good sense.
"We give here a few of the standards, but we also bring back to light some forgotten words forgotten undeservedly. Together they form a remarkable chronicle of selfless devotion that could have emerged only from a great nation. And yet, how many of our ancestors, even the perceptive and perspicacious ones, could have foreseen that American culture, verbally and otherwise, would one day devolve so depressingly and crassly that the day would arrive when, say, their grandchildren in high school would be unable to read what they themselves might have read for pleasure in elementary school?. . . The foundation of all learning, all communication, and all thought is words. Any honest struggle to use words well sets us all on a path not only to the intelligent life but to the decorous life, one graced with dignity and elan." -Tracy Lee Simmons
"The loss can be summed up in one sentence: We have lost our words. We no longer read the greatest spoken and written words of all time, and so we have lost both the general use and the understanding of words that our ancestors, both ancient and more recent, lived by. More critically, however, in losing those words, we have lost what those words have represented. . . . Yet it is exhilarating to realize how much one can learn, how much can quietly change within one's self and within one's family, simply by reading these words and making them one's own." -Allison Ellis
For All Ages: For advanced readers to enjoy in leisure learning and for education at all levels. The book may be used exclusively or in conjunction with other works for the study of language arts, U.S. history, civics, statesmanship, and elocution. Included is a "Letter to the Reader" by Allison Ellis which offers guidance for reading this and all great books with students at any age.
Mount Titano Media publishes single works and collections of the greatest spoken and written words of all time in the fields of history, literature, poetry, philosophy, and politics for the benefit of families, schools, colleges, universities, and independent lovers of learning and culture.
