Katharine Lee Bates’ “America the Beautiful” resonates for many people as the most patriotic and beloved American anthem. Her words remind us of why we love our country—the beauty of our land, the historic sacrifices of our people, and our ideals of hope and brotherhood. That has never been more important than today. Drawing on extensive research in Bates family diaries, letters, and memoirs, biographer Melinda M. Ponder brings Katharine to vivid life. Although her passion was poetry, Katharine’s three alluring suitors (two men and a woman) pulled her into major reform movements in a changing America after the Civil War. Teacher, poet, community builder, and patriot, she challenged Americans to make their country the best it could become in its values and literature. You will find yourself rooting for the unlikely triumph of this complicated woman on her journeys “from sea to shining sea.”