This engaging, story-filled history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by musicologist Mark Clague explores the meanings and traditions of the national anthem across more than two centuries of American history.
The book is available from your local bookseller, as well as online retailers such as Barnes and Noble & Amazon. Audio recordings that illustrate the book are available on our recording Poets & Patriots and can be heard here for free. Musical scores to perform many of these songs and anthem variants are available in our Star Spangled Songbook.
See the recent reviews of O Say Can You Hear? below:
- New York Times, by Peter Sagal
- Washington Post, by Colin Woodard
- Detroit Free Press, by Neal Rubin
- Washington Review of Books, by Peggy Kurkowski
- Star Tribune, by Glenn C. Altschuler
- The Economist
- Publisher’s Weekly
- Kirkus Reviews
- Library Journal
Interviews
- PBS Books (Youtube & Facebook) with Heather-Marie Montilla and Lynette Clemetson
- NPR 1A – O Say Can You Hear
- C-Span Q&A with Susan Swain
- ABC News with Linsey Davis
- WNYC “All of It” with Alison Stewart
- KQED Forum with Alexis Madrigal
- Michigan Today with Deborah Holdship
- Michigan News (video)
- CS Monitor with Randy Dotinga
- BYU Radio, Constant Wonder
- Greg Berg on WGTD (Milwaukee)
- Creative:Impact with Deb Polich (WEMU)
- Baltimore Magazine with Ron Cassie
- GBH Forum Network Anthem Lecture and Interview with Kristina Gaddy
- U-M Clements Library “Bookworm” Conversation with Paul Erickson, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022
Presentations and Concerts
- U.S. National Archives
- Anthem Lecture at Gerald R. Ford Museum (Grand Rapids)
- Poets and Patriotism with Thomas Hampson at the Library of Congress—July 3, 2014
- 200th Anniversary Anthem Recital, Sept. 14, 2014 (Hatcher Library, Ann Arbor)
- Proudly We Hail! Michigan Marching Band Halftime Show, Sept. 13, 2014 (Ann Arbor)
- Poets and Patriots Live, Feb. 17, 2014 (University of Michigan)
Opinion Writing
- The Most Important Word in “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Bridge Michigan, June 29, 2023
- “A Brief History of the NFL, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Super Bowl and Their Tangled Saga of Patriotism and Dissent,” The Conversation, Feb. 10, 2022
- “50 Years Ago, Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock Anthem Expressed the Hopes and Fears of a Nation,” The Conversation, August 14, 2019
- “Star Spangled Critics Miss the Point,” CNN.com, Aug. 31, 2016.
Upcoming Events
- Sundance Books (Reno, NV), book talk and signing, July 6, 2023