I think I was given this book as a gift years ago. it's only now that I've read it all the way through. It's a snapshot of America history from the pre-history settlement by Native-Americans all the way through the contentious presidential election between George Bush and Al Gore.
This is accomplished through focusing in on specific events of key relevance to the era, and broad overviews of certain subjects. Despite the subtitle, it is not "everything" about American history. In fact, in the introduction, the author states that he thinks of his book as "the first word" rather than the last one on each of these subjects and recommends one or more books that deal exclusively with each subject that he touches on.
The question-and-answer format is useful for such a broad stretch of time and is often funny. However, it is also rather opaque as to what the question refers to. Some are clear, definitely, but some of them are references or jokes about what he's talking about, which means a reader would have to be familiar with the subject matter to know at a glance. This diminishes the book's usefulness as a reference guide, but not enough to affect the grade. I'd say most of them are fairly indicative.
Each section is between one and four pages long. It is enough to get across the event itself, its significance in the larger history, and some contrasting views on it. The exceptions are the timelines made for some of the wars. They are funny and informative.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Don't Know Much About History" an A+
Click here for my next book review (also for fun): Sword Art Online volume 10
Click here for my previous book review (a request): Traitor's Prize
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
This is accomplished through focusing in on specific events of key relevance to the era, and broad overviews of certain subjects. Despite the subtitle, it is not "everything" about American history. In fact, in the introduction, the author states that he thinks of his book as "the first word" rather than the last one on each of these subjects and recommends one or more books that deal exclusively with each subject that he touches on.
The question-and-answer format is useful for such a broad stretch of time and is often funny. However, it is also rather opaque as to what the question refers to. Some are clear, definitely, but some of them are references or jokes about what he's talking about, which means a reader would have to be familiar with the subject matter to know at a glance. This diminishes the book's usefulness as a reference guide, but not enough to affect the grade. I'd say most of them are fairly indicative.
Each section is between one and four pages long. It is enough to get across the event itself, its significance in the larger history, and some contrasting views on it. The exceptions are the timelines made for some of the wars. They are funny and informative.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Don't Know Much About History" an A+
Click here for my next book review (also for fun): Sword Art Online volume 10
Click here for my previous book review (a request): Traitor's Prize
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
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