The American Patriot's Almanac

by William Bennett

We Americans are so good at critiquing our own nation, so determined to make it better, that sometimes we neglect to acknowledge all that is wonderful about it. After all, for all its flaws, the United States has brought freedom to more people than any other nation in history. It has welcomed millions to its shores. It offers its citizens one of the highest standards of living in the world. If the United States is not worth loving, then no country is. Now, to help us remember and appreciate all that, William J. Bennett and his longtime collaborator John T.E. Cribb have created The American Patriot's Almanac -- a daily source of inspiration and information about the history, heroes, and achievements that sum up what this nation is all about.

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Buy The American Patriot's Almanac with: Athwart History: Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations by Linda Bridges ; Roger Kimball List Price : $62.94 Buy Together: $33.90 (Save 46%)

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Here is America day by day -- a guide to understanding why we love this wonderful country so much.

• Military heroes such as Nathan Hale and the Navajo Code Talkers

• Medal of Honor winners such as recently honored Lt. Michael Murphy in Afghanistan

• Famous American women, including Abigail Adams, Mary Todd Lincoln, and more

• Patriotic symbols such as Uncle Sam and the Liberty Bell

• Civil Rights heroes such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Frederick Douglass

• Heroes of exploration like Zebulon Pike and Lewis & Clark

• Inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright brothers

• Famous speeches by our presidents and other historic leaders

• Sports icons such as Jesse Owens and Lou Gehrig

• Famous immigrants such as Bob Hope and Andrew Carnegie

• 50 All-American Movies

• Poems, founding documents, songs, and prayers

"The stories, symbols, heroes, and famous words in this book are important because they help tell us who we are as Americans," writes Bennett in his Introduction. "They remind us that we're all a part of this wonderful common enterprise called the United States. The long winter at Valley Forge. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting a flag on the moon. These events and images are part of what Abraham Lincoln called the 'mystic chords of memory' that bind us as a people and connect us with the past we all share. They help us understand the ideas we stand for and appreciate how hard it has been to preserve them. They help us to know our country better and love it more."

Fascinating in its detail and singular in its grasp of the big themes, William Bennett's The American Patriot's Almanac will make anyone a fan of American history -- and even better, it will make of everyone a patriot.

JANUARY 5 - Ellis Island The first week of January 1892 saw the opening of a new U.S. immigration station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. A 15-year-old lass from Ireland named Annie Moore entered the United States and history when she passed through its doors, becoming the first immigrant to be processed there. Over the next 62 years, 12 million more would follow, making Ellis Island the most famous entry point in America.

Ferryboats full of eager immigrants who had just crossed the Atlantic on sailing vessels or steamships docked at Ellis Island. There passengers disembarked to be screened by doctors and immigration officers. If they were in good health and their papers in order, they were allowed into the United States. Over the years, 98 percent of all those examined at Ellis Island were admitted into the country. More than 40 percent of all U.S. citizens can trace their ancestry through those immigrants.

Ellis Island closed as an immigration station in 1954. In 1990 it reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Ferries that take visitors to the Statue of Liberty make stops at the museum.

Ellis Island was named for Samuel Ellis, a colonist who owned the island in the late eighteenth century. Today the name reminds us that America has been a beacon of hope for the world-as Abraham Lincoln called it, "the last best hope of earth" -- and that the United States has taken in more people seeking new lives than any other nation in history.

• 1781: A British force led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia.

• 1898: President McKinley asks Congress for authority to go to war against Spain.

• 1914: Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduces a wage of five dollars a day in his automotive factories.

• 1925: Nellie T. Ross becomes the first woman governor when she succeeds her late husband as governor of Wyoming.

• 1933: Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

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 Steven Gross
I look forward to reading this book everyday. Its the Paul Harvey of American history. I really enjoyed learning a little piece of history every morning.