That's Not in My American History Book

By: Thomas Ayres

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Most people don't know that:
Benjamin Franklin almost killed himself trying to electrocute a turkey; the Wright brothers were not the first to fly an airplane; there was a 14th state that the original 13 wouldn't let join the Union; and that Benedict Arnold helped save the American Revolution. All this and more is revealed in That's Not in My American History Book.

For generations, history classes have reduced the rich, often surprising, facts of the American story into a dry litany of dates, names, and places. Now, That's Not in My American History Book fills in the gaps, supplying the messy details, reclaiming the overlooked heroes, and correcting the facts you thought you knew.

That's Not in My American History Book collects an illuminating treasury of stories edited out of your textbooks. It explains why the Fourth of July isn't really our Independence Day. It dispels the myth of Paul Revere's midnight ride. It reveals 19th century political mudslinging that labeled Andrew Jackson a murderer and his wife a "convicted adulteress." It even unveils the only Vice President ever to compose a #1 pop hit.

With insight, irreverence, and no small amount of wit, That's Not in My American History Book uncovers our unknown past.

©2000 Thomas Ayres (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Lots of Fun!

I had lots of fun listening to this book. Trouble is I was constantly making notes on things to research further via the internet!! Things would be a lot different if history were recorded accurately . . . but you know what they say . . . the history books are written by The Winners! So, alas, history books are published with a built-in bias. This book gives a great jumping off point if you want to learn more about the subjects included.

A Great Book!

If only you could remember half of what's in this book... Depending on your personality, you could be the next Cliff Clavin or teach American history. I listen to a lot of history books and find myself going back to listen to something covered in this book. The trouble is - I end up listening to the rest of the book in it's entirely because it's so interesting. I've probably listened to this book about 10 times - I could never delete from my iPod. I wish there was a sequel.

Do yourself a favor and put it in your shopping cart!

Very entertaining historical nuggets

Written by a journalist, this book has a story-telling style that is very readable (listenable) and entertaining. I have a fair knowledge of American history yet most of the historical episodes were unfamiliar to me and fascinating to hear. The narration is excellent. If you enjoy history when it's easy reading and sometimes light-hearted, this is for you.

Great Historical trivia

If you make it through the introduction, there are fascinating anecdotes, which are brief, keeping the material interesting. Great "read."

Interesting

It was an interesting read. I fell asleep in some parts but overall, there is a lot of obscure facts the history buffs will enjoy. This audio book is not for everyone.

Very interesting and worth the read

I'm not much on history, especially American history. However, this book kept my attention and if a second version ever becomes available, I'll read that too.

Great Listen!

It would be easy to say this is a book about US historical trivia but that would deprecate the accomplishments of men and women who, while mostly forgotten by history, helped shape our country in profound and positive ways.
This book was easy to listen to with my Garmin GPS when driving.
Joe Cannon

Believe it or not

The entire book has a feeling of reading the long defunct "Believe It or Not" column. In fact, the author says that he once worked on gathering information for them.
The articles, for this book seemed to be a collection of short articles to me, are not well separated. The book could use a bit more editing. Many of the articles are trivial and if you have read much history, there are few surprises within its pages.
However, if you want to learn a few tidbits without sitting to dine on a bit of history, this is the book for you.

Inspiration to sleep...

While I can appreciate the topic, and indeed it was this appreciation that made me wish to hear this Audiobook. The topic is meant to inspire people to wish to read history, to learn the truths that have been hidden through time. However, the reader is so dull that he borders upon a monotone dialogue that makes you want to sleep, instead of research more history. I give this a three for the over-all topic, which is a great topic, but it suffered greatly by the dull, monotonic reader that made me feel bored by history, as opposed to inspired by it.

lots of cool tidbits. Badly read.

The information was fun and well organized. There were segments where the author did lists of things or series of short sentences that were sometimes hard to track.. I found the performer sub-par. He never stopped between 1 story and the next. He would go straight from one chapter into the next so you didn't know where those final sentences belonged: wrap up of 1 chapter or intro to the next. He took no more time between chapters than he did between sentences.. Made for frustrated listening because I couldn't tell what was happening. His voice was easy to listen to though.