When we think of a true American, a few qualities come to mind: strong, resilient, talented, innovative, and pioneering.
In honor of the Fourth of July, we've created a ranking of Americans who possess all these qualities. They've all helped to shape the social, economic, cultural, and political landscape of our country within last year (and many, much longer than that).
From recording artists to politicians to athletes to activists, scroll through to find out who we think is truly patriotic this year.
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John Green is the voice of a generation: All three of his young adult novels — including heartbreaking teen love story "The Fault in Our Stars"— have been bestsellers and two of them have been made into feature films. He and his brother also host a huge video bloggers conference annually.
Say what you will about Facebook, but Mark Zuckerberg popularized social media and has connected millions of people around the country — and now more than a billion around the world — through the social network.
Elizabeth Holmes is a one-woman powerhouse. Her $9 billion biotech company Theranos is turning the medical industry upside down. She's the youngest female self-made billionaire and a stellar innovator — what's more American than that?
See the rest of the story at Business Insider