Francis scott key biography book review

In his latest book, What So Proudly We Hailed , Marc Leepson seeks to shed some light on the fascinating life of Francis Scott Key, who was much more than just a poet of one famous song. The result is an enjoyable and thoroughly engaging look at a fascinating historical figure whose great accomplishment has been remembered even if the memory of his life has faded in the shifting sands of time.

He was a lawyer who loved his work and worked on some major cases of the time, but he did not become interested in politics until Andrew Jackson ran for president. He was a family man who had a large brood.

WHAT SO PROUDLY WE HAILED is the first full-length biography of Francis Scott Key in more than 75 years.

This contradiction becomes a focus for the book, as Leepson tries to make connections between what Key thought and what he actually did. There were many who thought that slavery was a disgraceful institution, but nevertheless owned other humans themselves including, notably, Thomas Jefferson. It can be very difficult to try to guess at why people make the choices they do; however, Leepson draws convincingly from letters and other personal accounts, and he backs his conjectures with evidence.

Leepson examines both the public and private sides of Francis Scott Key. The book opens with an account of how Key enjoyed public speaking. A lawyer by trade, he was a fantastic orator and loved to speak in front of people.

In his latest book, What So Proudly We Hailed, Marc Leepson seeks to shed some light on the fascinating life of Francis Scott Key, who was much more than just a poet of one .

He also loved poetry, but this side of him was much more private. He wrote his own poetry but would only ever share it with the closest of family members — a strange privacy for a man whose poem would became the national anthem for the United States. Naturally, Leepson relates the transformation of this poem into an anthem.

It is an interesting journey to follow. Many people believe that Key did indeed intend his writing to be a poem.