A Thanksgiving Read

Patriotic Holidays of the United States: An Introduction to the History, Symbols, and Traditions Behind the Major Holidays and Days of Observance, By: Helene Henderson
Non-Fiction: History, Holidays 359 pages copyright 2006

This book covers the history and traditions of: Armed Forces Day, Citizenship Day, Election Day, Emancipation Day, Juneteenth, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday, Memorial Day, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Patriot Day, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and Washington’s Birthday. In this book you learn many interesting facts like what a caisson is (from the song “The Caissions Go Rolling Along”), and that Citizenship Day also is in honor of American born citizens who have turned 18 that year. It includes many documents related to each holiday as well as web pages and information on places of major celebrations for each day. Over all I would recommend it as a good source of information as the only thing I found wrong with it is when talking about WWII it makes it sound as it only Jews were killed in the concentration camps, and I felt that it was a bit insulting to not note that other groups were also being targeted by the Nazis, being a part Polish person with some Gypsy ancestors and gay friends, as the least they could do is add “and millions others” to the line on the numbers killed.