Independent Reading: The best books and Web sites about the birth of America

(Jacob Weisberg, SLATE) - Several years ago, I went to a Fourth of July barbecue in the Hudson Valley, N.Y. After we'd had a few beers, the host led his guests up to a nearby Revolutionary War redoubt, where he proceeded to read aloud from the Declaration of Independence. My wife found this hokey and embarrassing, but I loved it. If evangelicals are going to insist on putting the Christ back into Christmas, we secular humanists can take the trouble to bring Jefferson to our Independence Day celebrations.
Thanks to the Internet, it's possible to get a feel for the drafting of the Declaration as never before. Continued