You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Recent events made me more curious about us history and this book was helpful to understand a lot about US history.
The book itself is a story, nicely told from the early days of america till the very recent events, in brief, though it doesn't really stress enough on which events deserve more spot lights than the others but still it will help you understand a lot about america as culture and society and different events that shaped them.
The book itself is a story, nicely told from the early days of america till the very recent events, in brief, though it doesn't really stress enough on which events deserve more spot lights than the others but still it will help you understand a lot about america as culture and society and different events that shaped them.
I'm not an American citizen, but I was actually interested to know a little bit more of the history of the USA.
This books describes main events that shaped the actual structure of the country (Some key segments of history are omitted or barely described, mainly because the author relies on another book describing more about that topic, i.e. immigration on the 20th century, first presidents of the USA, etc).
It is a book that helps when you need a reference about what happened at certain important date in the nation's life. However, it is not intended to replace scholar books about the subject, because sometimes the author makes comments or suggests ideas that could be interpreted differently by people who attended formal history lessons.
This books describes main events that shaped the actual structure of the country (Some key segments of history are omitted or barely described, mainly because the author relies on another book describing more about that topic, i.e. immigration on the 20th century, first presidents of the USA, etc).
It is a book that helps when you need a reference about what happened at certain important date in the nation's life. However, it is not intended to replace scholar books about the subject, because sometimes the author makes comments or suggests ideas that could be interpreted differently by people who attended formal history lessons.
Good review, but too biased for a history book. I do like all the dummies books because they are on the light side.
A solid overview of U.S. History, entertaining, easy to read, but had a tendency to make light of or completely skip some very serious sections of history (i.e. - anything that had to do with people who weren't straight white men).
Despite being 400 pages, it is a short and sweet read of America's history from the European settler's viewpoint. Because of its accessibility and juicy details, it was hard to put down. However, I did find the author's humor to be a bit brusque with a tinge of waspishness, which made for some cringey moments. His depiction of Tisquantim's (Squanto's) tragic circumstances is dismissed by calling him "a good sport."
John Brown, an abolitionist, is described as "crazier than an outhouse rat." One other historical figure is described in the exact same way, though I can't recall who at the moment.
Putting aside these critiques, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the large story beats that lead to present day America. It is rather neutral in its telling and avoids romanticizing America's history, largely leaving the reader to come to their own conclusions.
John Brown, an abolitionist, is described as "crazier than an outhouse rat." One other historical figure is described in the exact same way, though I can't recall who at the moment.
Putting aside these critiques, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the large story beats that lead to present day America. It is rather neutral in its telling and avoids romanticizing America's history, largely leaving the reader to come to their own conclusions.
I really enjoyed that it covered all the way from the colonial period to 2018 (or at least the 4th edition that I read got that far). I appreciated learning more about modern history from when I was a kid and didn't really know much of what was going on. It was also very entertaining with fun side comments about the topics.
weird to say, but this book helped me pass the mtel to become a history teacher!
I decided to read this book to fill in what I thought were gaps in knowledge of US History. I didn't realize that it was really meant for students to "ace" their exams. I hope the author means middle school students because any self respecting high school student should already know most of this stuff. This book goes up to the Obama Presidency ending at 2013. It should be interesting to see what changes are made in an updated version. Anyway, it was gratifying to realize that I knew the basics - even at my advanced age. Credit goes to Sister Rose Judge, a member of the Philadelphia based order of nuns known as the Trinitarians, who taught American History at my Catholic high school. I'm sure she has long passed this life, but I had the opportunity to tell several Trinitarian nuns who have retired at my mother's retirement home in Philadelphia. They didn't know her, but then they did a lot of different things besides teaching. (Just a side note: when I was in high school, nuns still wore habits. Trinitarian nuns wore their hair parted in the middle with tight buns and wore hats. Their dresses were mid calf and black with white trim. It was quite amazing to see a nun with hair. There was also another much younger Trinitarian nun who was very pretty in a severe way. I don't know what she taught.) But back to the book, it's a good reference for your older grade school/middle school kids. Hopefully it will spark an interest in history. It has for me.
I love the Dummies series. Seriously, it's a great quick and dirty review of all the important things we need to know to understand the various things we need to know. Profound huh? What do you expect? I'm a self-proclaimed Dummy :)
