A treasure hunt for the hidden meaning of the symbols that appear on the most revered national icon.

With gorgeous four-color reproductions of an amazing array of art from diverse cultures and eras, Inventing the American Flag explores the symbolism of the national flag and investigates why the founding fathers chose the images they did to represent the new nation. Looking at the flag from an art-historical background, Inventing the American Flag is radically different from the patriotic-tract, antiquarian-records and Masonic-mystery approaches with which this topic is usually treated. Henry W. Moeller weaves together seemingly disparate strands of history to offer a new understanding of the forces that contributed to the thirteen-star flag.