In Yearning for Liberty, the author explores various facets of Liberty. Relying heavily on first person accounts, history and some of his own personal experiences and friendships, Johnson examines a broad sweep of time and geography beginning with the Biblical Exodus through modern day events and nations such as the Normandy invasion of World War II, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the stunning contrast between the two Koreas.Combining first person accounts with plenty of pictures, Johnson tells an eye-opening story of what having liberty looks like - its value, as well as the grim reality of what the lack of liberty brings to nations, individuals and the world at large - its cost.

What happened to the promise of liberty that is our legacy as citizens of this great country? How can we send our soldiers to fight for our liberty or help other countries fight for theirs when we have lost so much in our own? How can we call ourselves the "land of the free" when we have forfeited so much and are continually pressured to forfeit more?This book is about that quest for liberty in this world of authoritarians. It is not intended to be a book of history, but it does contain a great deal of history describing the many crossroads where liberty had chances to prevail but rarely did. Some will love liberty choosing to live independently. Others choose to live in fear and anxiety depending on authorities to defend them. Few people truly understand what liberty really is.

A “deeply researched and bracing retelling” (Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans—women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than a thousand eyewitness records, Liberty Is Sweet is a “spirited account” (Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution) that explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. “It is all one story,” prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes. Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans—enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters—and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America’s unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease. Thousands of enslaved Americans exploited the chaos of war to obtain their own freedom, while others were given away as enlistment bounties to whites. Women provided material support for the troops, sewing clothes for soldiers and in some cases taking part in the fighting. Both sides courted native people and mimicked their tactics. Liberty Is Sweet is a “must-read book for understanding the founding of our nation” (Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin), from its origins on the frontiers and in the Atlantic ports to the creation of the Constitution. Offering surprises at every turn—for example, Holton makes a convincing case that Britain never had a chance of winning the war—this majestic history revivifies a story we thought we already knew.

Give me your tired, your poor Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...Who wrote these words? And why? In 1883, Emma Lazarus, deeply moved by an influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, wrote a sonnet that was to give voice to the Statue of Liberty. Originally a gift from France to celebrate our shared national struggles for liberty, the Statue, thanks to Emma's poem, slowly came to shape our hearts, defining us as a nation that welcomes and gives refuge to those who come to our shores. This title has been selected as a Common Core Text Exemplar (Grades 4-5, Poetry)

A photographic essay recounting the creation and installation of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is known around the world as a symbol of freedom and democracy. Poet Emma Lazarus' words inscribed on its pedestal -- Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free -- beckon the poor and oppressed everywhere. Fittingly perhaps, the installation of the Statue of Liberty was no small feat. When its size and scale became a reality, the creators in France and the United States were faced with a number of colossal challenges. The solution would be an unusual and groundbreaking union of art and technology. Lady Liberty recounts the conception, construction, assembly and installation of the statue in rarely seen photographs and informative text. It shows how French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi used photographs and photomontages -- notably, a giant panorama of the city of New York -- to study the site chosen for his statue and to monitor its construction, which was taking place in Paris. The photographs showing the progress of the statue also became a great communication tool. Financing the colossal gift from France to America took massive fundraising that only innovative advertising could generate. It would give birth to the now-familiar method of exploiting the immediacy of photography to drive commerce. Lady Liberty traces both the expected and the surprising elements of the statue's construction and assembly, and show how the image of the statue oscillated between reality and fiction. They record a vast utopian project that lasted 20 years and was marked by the major political, social, architectural and aesthetic influences of the time. For all Americans, for historians, for photography aficionados, for students young and old, for newcomers welcomed by Lady Liberty, this book takes readers on a journey through the unknown life of one of the world's most powerful icons.

A tourist guide to the Statue of Liberty.