We celebrated the Fourth of July early at the IWF with a splendid talk by Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston, whose new book How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country is a great read, even for those of us who aren’t parents. Not just a gloom and doom book about the patriotism gap, How to Raise an American has suggestions on how to instill love of country (talking about loving America is, according to the book, like talking about your crazy aunt in the attic), including a list of 100 movies that present something we can be proud of in the American story (on the list is To Kill a Mockingbird, so it doesn’t ignore our faults-it just tells the other side, too). Blyth and Winston trace the decline in love of country to two sources: the media and the way history is taught (or not taught) in schools. The book proposes dinner table topics and field trips and even music to help children see the truth about this country. We served a patriotic sheet cake (which was delicious in addition to bearing the grand old flag!) and put out our grand old flag. We wish you all a patriotic Fourth-and urge you, especially those of you with children, to read Myrna and Chriss’s book.