What happened the past 250 years? America!

Right now, my favorite book about the sweep of America’s 250-year history comes from a Brit.

It’s written for elementary and middle school kids, has tons of great pictures, graphics, facts and audio bits and, yeah, I wrote some of it!

It’s gorgeous, just look:

And, to be honest, it’s all a little bittersweet.

My assignment was to go back in time and cover some our nation’s impactful events and movements – Sybil Ludington’s Revolutionary War ride (longer than Paul Revere’s), Atlantic piracy, the invention of the cotton gin, Vietnam War protests, and more – as though I were a reporter covering it in real time. But I would be writing for 10-year-olds. Fun, right?

Some of our early readers had questions. So we did audio recordings answering some of them, the QR codes taking you to those answers are sprinkled throughout the book. My voice is in there on some pieces (I’m especially proud of the pirate segment…arrrrg!) But you can also hear real Post supernovas. I mean, Bob Woodward talking about Watergate and Marty Weil doing the story of the Puritans? Gold.

What a thrill.

Christopher Lloyd is the dazzling British ex-journalist who is behind all this with his “small but mighty” publishing company, What on Earth! He partnered with The Washington Post (thanks to the brilliant Michelle Jaconi, who sees beauty and potential in every person and idea) to tell America’s story in his signature format – a super-graphic, engaging timeline.

And we had big plans.

“Let’s do a bee! Like a spelling bee, but a history bee!” Lloyd said, at one of our meetings, barely able to sit still in his chair as we ping-ponged the possibilities of the whole event.

We had ideas to do bus tours narrating American history in D.C., even digital maps of the highlights. This was going to be my next act at The Post, and I was thrilled to stay throughout the buyout drama and dive into this project.

Sigh.

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When the massive layoffs came in February that decimated the staff, the history project and plans for “America As It Happened” were also scrapped.

I’m proud of the book and have given it to friends with kids – who have all enjoyed it. Adults who browse find it cool, too.

You can get it on Amazon and in bookstores, but if you’d like to avoid that (I know), you can buy it directly from What on Earth! here.

Working on the book has inspired the series I’m regularly posting— Historic Persisters (you didn’t know) Helped Build America. But I’ve gotta say, revisiting the sweep of our nation’s history, seeing the persisters, dreamers and fighters who have built the nation into a place for diverse millions, a nation that has endured churn and scandal, tragedy, hate and heartache, is the inspiration we all may need right now.

Happy Fourth, America. We’re moving ever forward. We’re a nation of Persisters.