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Title details for Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis - Available

Don't Know Much About History

by Kenneth C. Davis
Jeff Woodman
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available

From Columbus' voyage to the Clinton administration, hop aboard a rollicking ride through 600 years of Americana. With wit, candor and fascinating facts, Kenneth C. Davis explodes long-held myths and misconceptions -- revealing the very human side of history that the textbooks neglect. By asking simple questions and telling us the entertaining answers, Davis lets us all in on the basics of American history. This updated edition incorporates new research and discoveries, and covers topics such as the end of the Cold War, Clinton's impeachment, the bizarre elections of 2000, and the events that led to September 11th. For history buffs and history-phobes alike, Davis proves once more that reading him is like returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Don't Know Much About

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 11, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415952429
      • File size: 674143 KB
      • Duration: 23:24:27

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This book is perfectly formatted for the ear. It covers American history chronologically, but each individual topic is organized in a question-and-answer format. What's more, quotations from major figures from different historical eras provide diverse perspectives on key events in addition to the author's own solid explanations. Jeff Woodman and Jonathan Davis's delivery maintains a conversational tone. Their easy pace sounds like they're explaining these complex topics to a friend, and they're quite sensitive to the humor of the book. Enjoyable and educational, the book's only weaknesses are its economic explanations, which aren't as acute as the political ones, and a slight liberal bias when discussing twentieth-century topics. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY was the first of what's now a series of books educating the public about complex topics through an accessible question-and-answer format. Here author Kenneth Davis has extensively revised the first edition. The revision was driven by questions from past readers, and this gives a great deal of energy to the book. The narrators work hard to communicate Davis's passion. They seem to really be asking the questions and to be driving home the follow-up questions as if the details deeply mattered, which, of course, they do. Passages from historical texts provide a counterpoint, anchoring Davis's answers within historical periods and letting listeners hear bits of period perspective. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      This may as well be titled "History for the Determinedly Ignorant and Naive." Davis takes third-grade ideas and slants them toward faddish political rectitude: capitalists, Republicans and Caucasians are bad; environmentalists, socialists and unionizers are good. He narrates the introductions himself, and we are fairly warned; his voice is appropriately pedagogical--he sounds like a college sophomore. Mercifully, he turns the tapes over to a competent narrator, who is asked vapid questions by three or four stand-ins, one of whom sounds like Davis himself. Anyone with the faintest knowledge of the field will listen with gritted teeth. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 1, 2003
      Davis, author of the trademarked series of Don't Know Much About primers, seeks to dispel public boredom and ignorance about history and correct mistakes about various historical events in this update of his bestselling survey of American history. He arranges the book around a series of short essays on questions ranging from the basic (e.g.,"Why did the southern states secede from the United States?") to the esoteric ("What was Teddy Roosevelt's grandson doing in Iran?"), intended to crystallize larger themes in our country's past. Davis's engaging treatment is spicy but judicious. He notes sex scandals from Alexander Hamilton's to Bill Clinton's, tamps out JFK conspiracy theories and speculation about J. Edgar Hoover's cross-dressing, and debunks myths like the legend of Betsy Ross and the movie Mississippi Burning. He provides sharply drawn, even-handed accounts of controversies, and his verdicts are generally well considered. Unfortunately, because discussions are usually tied to colorful personalities, heroic movements and dramatic crises, processes that are quiet but profound, such as the post-war rise of suburbia and the decline of unions, tend to get slighted. There's lots of history to browse through here, but little historiography to tie it together; while the book is far superior to standard high-school treatments, and a valuable reference for students young and old, it still leaves the impression that history is just one damn thing after another.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 3, 1991
      This reference, intended to supplement Americans' insufficient knowledge of their country's history, lists essential people, places and dates from the New World's discovery to the Iran-Contra affair, and compares past events to those of the present.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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