Tracy Press

Good books and democracy’s future go hand in hand.

Defending our democracy, as the National Endowment for the Humanities espouses, demands more than military operations and political progress. It requires a citizenry that understands the ideas that have shaped our nature and that define democracy.

That’s why a program like the “We the People” initiative of the NEH and American Library Association has such meaning. It encourages and strengthens the study of American history and culture through reading — and sends books in our direction.

This week, the Tracy and Mountain House branch libraries and four school libraries in the Jefferson School District found out they’ve been awarded “We the People” grants. The grants are actually books — 17 for each library on a “Created Equal” theme, from Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address” to Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” and Russell Freedman’s “Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.”

If there’s a book on the list you haven’t read, consider checking out a copy. The books are targeted for children in kindergarten through high school, but adults can read them, too. They hold the promise of helping readers understand what challenges America has faced and where it has shown progress in its efforts to live up to the ideal of universal human equality.

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written by American Superwoman , April 13, 2008

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Is that the Benjamin Franklin shakin my haaaaaaaaaaand? Where you sticking that other hand Benjy baby?

Woooooooooooooeey