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Title: Don't Know Much About History : Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis ISBN: 0-06-008382-4 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 13 April, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.52 (100 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A refreshing refresher on U.S. history
Comment: This is an enjoyable book for adults who wish they remembered more from high school history class. Although it's a serious and factual book that cuts well above the "bathroom reader" category, it's not intended as an advanced text for historians. For example, the issues leading up to the civil war are covered in a single chapter. Obviously there's some simplification there. Expert historians would want several full books on the subject.
And while the book is serious and factual, it's not dull and lifeless like the high school history texts many of us remember. The author writes with an active style and includes occasional bits of humor. He's also willing to pass judgment after outlining the facts -- and that's what really makes this book insightful. For example, in describing George Washington he goes beyond the mythic, beatific hero accounts given in typical textbooks and talks about the man's earthy, human side as well as some of the his shortcomings.
I recommend this book to any adult who has forgotten high school history. I think it is especially valuable for parents whose children are learning about history in school -- you can refresh your knowledge and help your children learn. This book would even be good for older students (at least 8th grade) themselves to read, particularly if their teachers and textbooks just aren't making the material interesting enough.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting and accessible
Comment: I bought this book several years to help me prepare for the State Department's Foreign Service written exam. I was pretty confident in my knowledge of foreign affairs and European history, but less so about the events that had occurred right here in my own backyard for the past 200+ years. Well, it really helped! I particularly remember questions on the exam about the Monroe Doctrine, the Missouri Compromise, and Marbury v. Madison that I could not have answered had I not read this book. I passed the exam, which is one of the most draining tests I have ever taken. It's like a super-SAT for adults.
Recently, I picked up this book again and thumbed through it. My one criticism is Davis's "anti-Manifest Destiny" rhetoric, which is true, I suppose, of most modern historians, with the exception, perhaps, of the incomparable Stephen E. Ambrose. General George A. Custer described as "probably deranged" is pure revisionism! Straight out of "Little Big Man," the 1968 movie with Dustin Hoffman. Anyhow, that's my one beef in an otherwise fun and engaging read.
Rating: 1
Summary: Not REAL history, but biased history
Comment: Just like a newspaper, this author decides to cover certain events in history AND from a certain perspective (far left). Those of us who have learned American history in an AP class, where we read papers on a particular topics from the several authors (several perspectives), have the ability to see the entire "picture". This author chooses the perspective and, in most cases, ignores the TRUTH asbout a certain event.
This teacher gives Mr. Davis a D for this book.
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Title: Don't Know Much About Geography : Everything You Need to Know About the World but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis ISBN: 0380713799 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 07 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis ISBN: 0380728397 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 04 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Don't Know Much About the Civil War : Everything You Need to Know About America's Greatest Conflict but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis ISBN: 0380719088 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 07 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Don't Know Much About American History by Kenneth C. Davis, Matt Faulkner ISBN: 0064408361 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Don't Know Much About the Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis, Pedro Martin ISBN: 0060286156 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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