For Spacious Skies: Katharine Lee Bates and the Inspiration for America the Beautiful

A Mighty Girl's 2020 Books of the Year

The true story of the unconventional woman and her enduring song about the spirit of America.

Katharine Lee Bates first wrote the lines to "America the Beautiful" after a stirring visit to Pikes Peak in 1893. But the story behind the song begins with Katharine herself, who pushed beyond conventional expectations of women to become an acclaimed writer, scholar, suffragist, and reformer. Katharine believed in the power of words to make a difference, and in "America the Beautiful," her vision of the nation as a great family, united from sea to shining sea, continues to uplift and inspire us all.