Free Downloads Don't Know Much About American History
Was Columbus the first European in the Americas?What sport became more popular after the Civil War?Were the Little Rock Nine a rock-and-roll band? As best-selling author Kenneth C. Davis knows, history can be fun, fascinating, and memorable. When his don't know much about® history was published in 1990, it was a sensation. The book delivered a fresh take on history with its wit and unusual detail. Davis now does for young people what his earlier book did for adults. In his trademark question-and-answer style -- peppered with surprising facts, historic reproductions, and Matt Faulkner's lively illustrations -- Davis introduces our ancestors who settled the East and expanded the West, as well as those who had been living here all along. His sure touch brings the drama and excitement of the American story vividly to life.
Lexile Measure: 1130L (What's this?)
Series: Don't Know Much About
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (April 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0064408361
ISBN-13: 978-0965739870
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (319 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #76,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #55 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Reference #170 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Reference #191 in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Explore the World > United States
Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Grade Level: 3 - 7
Like a great baker, a great writer can turn even what might have been stale into something not just digestible, but delicious. Clever turns of phrase and crisp, engaging writing style (in an easily referenced question and answer format) allow historian Kenneth Davis to chart American history and debunk many of its myths in this exceptional update of his 1990 best-seller.Drawing on reports of the period and on revisionist histories, Davis concisely shows the humanity in American icons known only by one name: Lincoln's views on race relations, Washington's at times bawdy sense of humor, Franklin Roosevelt's thirst for power and gift for political (and apparently, personal) compromise, Ford and Lindbergh's disquieting bigotry and animosity. (Robert E. Lee's quote on slavery's positive effects show him, despite honors afforded him in the Civil War's losing cause, very much a man of his time.) Davis also provides short biographies of historic's outstanding black voices, from Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois' passion to the Mohammad Ali's athletic urban poetry.Davis also shows a refreshing desire not to be objective, a rarity in books like this. He attacks the nation's great shames (treatment of Native and African Americans, Japanese-American internment during World War II), targeting history's cynics and opportunists whose names still ring of American royalty: Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Rockefeller, even the Kennedys. (Davis' coverage of the reasons and results of 1898's Spanish-American War will disturb those always thinking Americans fought defensively and for the right causes.) Davis also explains the interlocking events which started WWI, which (should you choose to read the book cover to cover) pour into every other tragic conflict which followed up to and including September 11.
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