The Citizen's Almanac: Fundamental Documents, Symbols, and Anthems of the United States

by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

The Citizen’s Almanac is a publication developed for new citizens. It includes information on U.S. civic history, rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship, biographical details on prominent foreign-born Americans, landmark decisions of the Supreme Court, presidential speeches on citizenship, and several of our founding documents including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

102 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2007

Reviews

[Ivo Stoyanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up years ago while on a tour of the US Government Publishing Office, which prints it for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If you ever have a chance to tour GPO, by the way, do it. Chatting with the official US government paper marbler was a highlight.

Anyway, about the book. This is a pamphlet that gets handed out to naturalized citizens at their naturalization ceremony, getting them up to speed on what a committee determined were the essentials of U.S. political history. The result is . . . a little strange. I would not have considered "The Concord Hymn" as a top-five piece of American music--or a top 5,000, for that matter. I have never heard of half of the "Prominent Foreign-Born Americans" profiled. And I am impressed by the degree to which the booklet manages to cheer on times the U.S. has fought against racism without ever actually, you know, talking about the negative aspects of racism. (Also, if you're hoping to learn about American women, you're going to be disappointed.)

But still. You could do worse? I don't think I've read the Declaration of Independence since high school, and it probably doesn't hurt me to reread it every couple decades, nor to brush up on my understanding of Marbury v. Madison.

[Jamie Jonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little torn in my reaction to this most recent citizenship-process stand-by. My wife became a citizen in 2010, and it was handed to her as part of the package. Now that we're separated, I've been clearing out the family junk-pile. Not that this is junk. No, it's actually a good compendium of bits and pieces of America: Presidential speeches, excerpts from our cornerstone documents, examples of outstanding immigrants, etc. Other than the pre-existing text, the writing isn't wonderful, yet I feel I've accomplished something as a somewhat disillusioned American in reminding myself what the country is about, and how much trouble we went through in the past as a people.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read but an important one. Great resource. Full of everything about the USA founding. I found this book at a second hand bookstore. Glad I picked it up. I wish every American would have a chance to read. There is more US history in this short book than taught in American schools.

[Grace Woodard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a book you can rate, but I wish it went into more detail on a couple of the documents.

[Tom]

Citizenship & Immigration Services (2011). The citizen's almanac : fundamental documents, symbols, and anthems of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Citation created by: Tom Shaw

Call Number: HS 8.2:C 49/2011


Description: The Citizen's Almanac is a publication developed for new citizens or those wishing to become citizens of the United States.

Content/Scope: The book gives a general overview of the history of the United States including biographical data on Presidents and other notable Americans. The rights of citizens is also detailed in a handbook format.

Accuracy/Authority: This book has received mostly positive reviews by reputable review sources. It was written by the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Arrangement/Presentation: The book is presented in a handbook form for easy reference.

Timeliness/Permanence: This reference book was published in 2011, so its content and relevance will change in the future, but slowly. New versions will surely follow.

Cost: $8.00

Rational for Selection: Central High School contains almost 15% of newly immigrated students, mainly from Africa and Latin America. This book is relevant to their journey on becoming American citizens as well as other students in Civics and U.S. history classes.

[Chris Brown]

Office of Citizenship, (2007). The citizen's almanac : Fundamental documents, symbols, and anthems of the united utates. . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Chris Brown

Call Number: HS 8.2:C 49/2007

This almanac is gives a vast amount of information to citizens about information they need to know in order to be a good citizen and/or gain citizenship.

This resources would be great in a public school because it contains vital information that new students to America can gain by reading. This would be helpful for many students who emigrate to the U.S. and are going to seek their citizenship.

[Karina]

I got this little book when I became the U.S. citizen. It looks neat, has nice black and white historical photographs... the contents looks useful too, but I haven't read any of it. :p

Contents:
* Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens
* Patriotic Anthems and Symbols of the United States
* Presidential and Historical Speeches
* Fundamental Documents of American Democracy
* Landmark Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court
* Presidential Statements of Citizenship and Immigration
* Prominent Foreign-Born Americans

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The literacy program has a variety of tools for their students; and this book is a compendium of very simple texts about very important aspects of the USA. I read it in no time and keep it in my shelf because it helps me help my students with their literacy/citizenship skills.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

USA! USA!