New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers, the father-son team who created harlem, celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them.

What is it to be an American?

To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow.

We were the youth that could not fail

Planting our high ideals in virgin lands and eager hearts

Making vows forever brighter than the story we would live . . .

The lyrical free verse evocative of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and striking mural-like paintings are a testimonial to the heart and soul of our country: its ordinary and extraordinary people and the monumental events that have shaped our nation. With layered, sweeping panoramic paintings and text rich with historical allusion, this stunning picture book features passionate writings and vivid portraits of political Americans, from Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, to Abraham Lincoln to Jimi Hendrix.