We Gather Together
A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Castle and The Girls of Atomic City comes a new way to look at American history through the story of giving thanks.
From Ancient Rome through 21st-century America, bestselling author Denise Kiernan brings us a biography of an idea: gratitude, as a compelling human instinct and a global concept, more than just a mere holiday. Spanning centuries, We Gather Together is anchored amid the strife of the Civil War, and driven by the fascinating story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a widowed mother with no formal schooling who became one of the 19th century’s most influential tastemakers and who campaigned for decades to make real an annual day of thanks.
Populated by an enthralling supporting cast of characters including Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth, Walt Whitman, Norman Rockwell, and others, We Gather Together is ultimately a story of tenacity and dedication, an inspiring tale of how imperfect people in challenging times can create powerful legacies.
Working at the helm of one of the most widely read magazines in the nation, Hale published Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others, while introducing American readers to such newfangled concepts as “domestic science,” white wedding gowns, and the Christmas tree. A prolific writer, Hale penned novels, recipe books, essays and more, including the ubiquitous children’s poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” And Hale herself never stopped pushing the leaders of her time, in pursuit of her goal.
The man who finally granted her wish about a national “thanksgiving” was Lincoln, the president of the war-torn nation in which Hale would never have the right to vote.
Illuminating, wildly discussable, part myth-busting, part call to action, We Gather Together is full of unexpected delights and uneasy truths. The stories of indigenous peoples, immigrant communities, women’s rights activists, abolitionists, and more, will inspire readers to rethink and reclaim what it means to give thanks in this day and age. The book’s message of gratitude—especially when embraced during the hardest of times—makes it one to read and share, over and over, at any time of year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Kiernan (The Last Castle) examines the "cultural, ancient, religious, and secular customs" behind Thanksgiving, and the campaign to make it a national holiday, in this wide-ranging account. Noting that harvest festivals and "observations of thanks and gratitude" have taken place on nearly every continent throughout recorded history, Kiernan reveals that the 1621 gathering attended by Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in Plymouth Colony wasn't actually "the first thanksgiving" in America Indigenous peoples had been holding their own ceremonies for centuries, and European settlers and explorers held thanksgiving feasts as early as 1541. Though George Washington proclaimed the first national "Day of Thanksgiving" in 1789, it wasn't until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln, seeking unity in the midst of the Civil War, made it an annual holiday, thanks largely to the efforts of magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale (1788 1879), who had been imploring presidents to issue such a proclamation for years. Tracking how the myths and traditions of Thanksgiving have evolved (and sparked controversy) over the decades, Kiernan contends that the holiday should symbolize "one element above all": gratitude. Packed with vivid character sketches, intriguing historical tidbits, and lucid meditations on the psychology of giving thanks, this unique chronicle casts the holiday in a new light.
