Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by hcampbell28
Don't Know Much About® History by Kenneth C. Davis
4.0
Where to start with this review – there are so many things that I want to tell you about this book that they are all fighting to be first on the page. So I apologize if the structure is a bit off.
I always thought that I knew a lot about American history – certainly more than my peers in school, that much was obvious. But, reading this book certainly showed me the areas where I was weak, but also reinforced that I did indeed know a decent amount about history. The edition that I read was a revised edition which actually took events up through 2011 – so it was great to be able to read something that was very up to date and for once included some history that I have actually lived through (that was a first!). The topics that were chosen for selection were a mix of the commonly discussed (ie. Civil Rights Movement and American Revolution) and the not-so-often (ie. the Pumpkin Papers and the Mormons).
The structure of this book will be hit or miss for readers in my opinion. The author sets it up in a question and answer format – so each topic is opened with a question (as if someone was asking it in class) and then he provides a discussion. To give you an idea of the questions: Why did Aaron Burr shoot Alexander Hamilton? or Why was President Johnson impeached? I thought that the format worked really well because it made it easier as a reader to focus on a particular subject instead of it just reading as a continuous narrative. The book was broken down into chapters and then there would be approximately 20 questions or so in each chapter that related to the overall topic.
There are also two subsections peppered throughout most chapters – “American Voices” and “Must Read”. I appreciated both of these additions to the text. American Voices usually helped set the reader up for the next topic by providing an excerpt from a document, book, or speech that pertained to it. Must Read is just as it sounds, extended readings about the topic previously discussed. I can tell you that I added all of these to my reading list as his introductions have encouraged me to want to know more!
If all history texts were presented in this engaging of a manner, I don’t think we would have students trying to skip history period. I can’t wait for his newest book that comes out this fall which is right up my alley – Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.
The narration was very well done – with non-fiction of this span of time it could have the potential to fall into bouts of boring, but that did not happen here. The questions were proposed by two different narrators alternating back and forth – sort of a simulation of a classroom. The explanations were provided by a third narrator – representing the teacher. The format worked well enough on audio, but I think it would have been better appreciated in print – it took me awhile to figure out if the American Voices was related to the previous topic or the upcoming. There is also a great appendix in the back of the book on the Amendments to the Constitution and the Presidents which would be great to have on hand.
I always thought that I knew a lot about American history – certainly more than my peers in school, that much was obvious. But, reading this book certainly showed me the areas where I was weak, but also reinforced that I did indeed know a decent amount about history. The edition that I read was a revised edition which actually took events up through 2011 – so it was great to be able to read something that was very up to date and for once included some history that I have actually lived through (that was a first!). The topics that were chosen for selection were a mix of the commonly discussed (ie. Civil Rights Movement and American Revolution) and the not-so-often (ie. the Pumpkin Papers and the Mormons).
The structure of this book will be hit or miss for readers in my opinion. The author sets it up in a question and answer format – so each topic is opened with a question (as if someone was asking it in class) and then he provides a discussion. To give you an idea of the questions: Why did Aaron Burr shoot Alexander Hamilton? or Why was President Johnson impeached? I thought that the format worked really well because it made it easier as a reader to focus on a particular subject instead of it just reading as a continuous narrative. The book was broken down into chapters and then there would be approximately 20 questions or so in each chapter that related to the overall topic.
There are also two subsections peppered throughout most chapters – “American Voices” and “Must Read”. I appreciated both of these additions to the text. American Voices usually helped set the reader up for the next topic by providing an excerpt from a document, book, or speech that pertained to it. Must Read is just as it sounds, extended readings about the topic previously discussed. I can tell you that I added all of these to my reading list as his introductions have encouraged me to want to know more!
If all history texts were presented in this engaging of a manner, I don’t think we would have students trying to skip history period. I can’t wait for his newest book that comes out this fall which is right up my alley – Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.
The narration was very well done – with non-fiction of this span of time it could have the potential to fall into bouts of boring, but that did not happen here. The questions were proposed by two different narrators alternating back and forth – sort of a simulation of a classroom. The explanations were provided by a third narrator – representing the teacher. The format worked well enough on audio, but I think it would have been better appreciated in print – it took me awhile to figure out if the American Voices was related to the previous topic or the upcoming. There is also a great appendix in the back of the book on the Amendments to the Constitution and the Presidents which would be great to have on hand.