We've all sung it a thousand times, and most of us know at least the first verse by heart. It has been called a hymn, a prayer, our unofficial national anthem -- in short, "the national heartbeat set to music." It is "America the Beautiful," the song that has expressed the dreams of Americans from Ray Charles to Elvis Presley, from eager immigrants to hopeful graduates, from the battlefields of World War I to the playing fields of the Super Bowl. "America the Beautiful" came together in a confluence of good luck and sheer good will. In this first full biography of the song Americans love to sing, Lynn Sherr reveals the dramatic story behind its unlikely creation. She profiles the New England poet, Katharine Lee Bates, who composed the verse after an inspirational trek to the top of Pikes Peak, Colorado. She introduces us to Samuel Augustus Ward, who conceived the melody in a moment of Victorian inspiration after a trip to Coney Island. Katharine and Sam never met -- never even communicated -- but their soaring creations so seamlessly captured the American spirit, that they would be forever linked in our national heritage. Sherr also explores the song's nineteenth-century roots, pointing out its connection to the Civil War and to the commercial and technological progress of a nation charging forward. And she analyzes the words we sing so often: What are "alabaster cities" anyway? Why "amber waves of grain"? Finally, Sherr discloses little-known facts about the song Katharine Lee Bates irreverently called "A. the B." The words that never made the final cut. The different tunes -- nearly eighty -- we might have sung. How it almost -- and still might -- replace "The Star-Spangled Banner." As Lynn Sherr writes, "When I started this book and told people I was writing about 'America the Beautiful,' the first thing some said was 'Why?' For others, it was 'Wow!' But then they all paused and added the same thing: 'I love that song.' So do I." - Jacket flap.