To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance

For over one hundred years, it has been deeply ingrained in American culture. Saluting the flag in public schools began as part of a national effort to Americanize immigrants, its final six words imbuing it with universal hope and breathtaking power. Now Richard Ellis unfurls the fascinating history of the Pledge of Allegiance and of the debates and controversies that have sometimes surrounded it.

For anyone who has ever recited those thirty-one words, To the Flag provides an unprecedented ...