“O SAY, CAN YOU SEE?”: AN UNLIKELY NATIONAL ANTHEM
Warren Heilman, Monday, April 8

To an almost unknown war, an unlikely melody, and a circuitous historical path converged to create the national anthem for the United States.

“LA MARSELLAISE”: THE WORLD’S BLOODIEST ANTHEM
Janet Stone, Monday, April 15

As enemy troops threatened revolutionary France, Rouget de Lisle composed a marching song designed to arouse a fighting spirit. It still does.

ANTHEMS OF EMANCIPATION
Bertice Berry, Monday, April 22

From “Swing Low” to “We Shall Overcome” to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” music has accompanied the journey from slavery to emancipation and from repression to freedom.

SONGS OF FEAR, SONGS OF PRIDE
Byron Boyd, Monday, April 29

Millennia of history with barely a century of unified nationhood, Germany has a fraught relationship with the patriotic music of its turbulent past.

"O CANADA": IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH
Robin Williams, Monday, May 6

Written by a Québecois with lyrics in French and later with different English lyrics, the Canadian national anthem reflects the struggle to define national unity.

THE NON-ANTHEM AMERICAN PATRIOTIC SONGBOOK
Warren Heilman, Monday, May 13

An array of twentieth-century songs, any of which could feasibly become the American national anthem, comprise this musical trek through the American patriotic songbook.