In 1751 the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania ordered from England "a good bell of about 2,000 pounds weight" for the tower of the new State House (now Independence Hall). On the bell was inscribed:

Proclaim Liberty Throughout All The Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof. Lev. XXV. 10

When the bell arrived and was tested, to the legislators' dismay, it was cracked by the stroke of the clapper, but two local ironmakers offered to recast it. On their second attempt they succeeded in casting the bell that Americans now know as the Liberty Bell.

With the liveliness and drama that have characterized her earlier books about America's past, Olga Hall-Quest skillfully interweaves the story of the Bell with the history of Philadelphia and the United States. She brings vividly to life the Bell's greatest moment when, on July 8, 1776, it fulfilled its prophesy and proclaimed liberty—the signing of the Declaration of Independence—and re-creates the years since the Revolution and the ways the Bell has continued to symbolize liberty. Today it is especially meaningful in the struggle for social, political, and economic rights by minority groups.

Distinctive line drawings by Christine Price handsomely illustrate the text.

From the dust jacket