The Skeptic's Guide to American History

By: Mark A. Stoler, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Mark A. Stoler

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

To take a skeptical approach to American history is not to dabble in imaginative conspiracy theories; rather, it's to reframe your understanding of this great nation's past and actually strengthen your appreciation for what makes American history such a fascinating chapter in the larger story of Western civilization. And in this bold 24-lecture series, you can do just that.

Travel back in time and examine many commonly held myths and half-truths about American history and prompt yourself to think about what really happened in the nation's past - as opposed to what many believe happened. These lectures demonstrate how reconsidering some of the most popular notions of U.S. history can yield new (and sometimes startlingly different) interpretations of political, social, economic, and military events. But more than just debunking commonly accepted accounts, you'll be able to replace these misconceptions with insightful truths. Exploring both America's history and the verdicts that have been rendered about some of its most enduring figures - including George Washington, John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and many others - these lectures investigate a wide-ranging list of questions. What impact did other nations have on the American Revolution? Has George Washington always been revered as president? Do we now understand the true blunders in America's Vietnam policies and tactics?

In exploring these and other questions, these lectures prove themselves to be a delightful intellectual experience that will allow you to rethink not just the facts of U.S. history, but also their meaning.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

For individuals interested specifically in US hist

Some topics were global and other very specific about US historical events. i preferred the global topics since they actually impacted the world...

Impressive read

While I find it rewarding to find that most of the challenges I hear by "today's history of the United States" are in favor of my understanding, I am still challenged in other areas, which is a good thing.

Fascinating and engaging

Not an awkward metaphor to say this is a page turner. Each chapter revisits stages of American history and present it in a thought provoking and fascinating light without distorting facts.

I decided to check this out when I felt I had gone too far down the Game of Thrones rabbit hole and realized I was learning more about fictional Westeros than my own country. This was every bit as interesting, entertaining, and far more truly educational. It was a pleasure to experience.

Makes one think

This author highlights the risk we take of not being skeptical of accepted history, not because it is often written to mislead (though that happens), but because history is written by people who have their own perspectives, agendas, and shortcomings (including lack of access to all relevant information).

Skeptical but Not Cynical

I was a little apprehensive about taking this course because of the title. I read many history books, and I get really tired of revisionist history and cynical professors with an axe to grind against America. Given the title, I feared running into exactly this scenario. I was happily relieved to find that not to be the case with this course. The professor's goal is to shed light on American history myths and misunderstandings, but he does so in a respectful way that does not belittle America or ignore the nation's accomplishments. For example, he points out that George Washington lost nearly every battle he fought in the American Revolution, and, thus, Washington was not an unmatched tactical general. The professor points out, though, that Washington was a strategic master who won the war without winning all of the battles by making the British situation in America unsustainable and winning enough key battles to be successful. As another example, he discusses the myth that President Franklin Roosevelt "gave away" Eastern Europe to the Soviets at the end of World War II. The professor explains that the Soviets had already conquered Eastern Europe, and, instead of surrendering territory, Roosevelt negotiated territorial concessions from the Soviets, not vice-versa. The class was fascinating and thought provoking and, thankfully, not cynical or demeaning to America.

This is how history should be taught

This is how history should be taught -- not with presumption of knowledge, but with more questions and the attempt to answer such questions with all available data currently known, while still acknowledging that much still needs to be learned. Also a relief to not hear how "good/bad" events or figures were in general, as if such subjectivity can be written as fact. Rather different perspectives were approached, and what was "good/bad" for whom, from which perspective, and in consideration of which goals/intentions.

A fresh take, honestly.

A nice crash course that starts at the beginning. If the idea of a "sceptic's" approach to studying history is new to you, and you studied history only in high school, some of the facts presented will make you look at many events in a completely new way. I've spent the last year reading history, and still, at least 60% of his material was new to me. I felt like his economic analysis of the Roosevelt years was sound, but overlooked a several facts that led Paul Krugman to what I think is a more convincing conclusion in Krugman's "Conscience Of A Liberal". I found the material on the early republic and the 19th century to be fascinating. Especially important is the fact that the United States was never intended to be have the system that is does today. The way that I was tought history was that the founders wanted a completely democratic nation with equal opportunity for all, religious tolerance, and poplar government. If you still believe this myth, I recommend checking out these lectures.

Overall good info

This was very informative, I felt like some of the things he brought up he just expected you to take a face value without giving you more details and reasons to think differently, but over all it was very informative and very good.

Interesting

This brings up facts not taught in school. It has a much different point of view than standard lower education (high school) teaches. I'm glad I had a listen and feel more informed than before.

Good lecture, great content

I really enjoyed the content of this course, but I found the lecturer’s delivery to be a little distracting.

Maybe that’s my fault— as a long time Audible listener, I expect that it’s a professional reading a written book, a book that has already been edited and checked for errors; and a reader who is chosen for their voice and skill at reading. The Great Courses series are a little different in that they’re more akin to recorded live lectures.

This lecturer has a “halting” delivery in many places, has a very regional dialect (“yuge”) that some people dislike, and there are a few errors here and there. If you base your expectations on the idea of listening to a university professor speaking live to a classroom, it’s totally acceptable. Still, there are obvious edits and splices in the audio, so some editing must have occurred.

Anyway, the actual content is interesting. The lecturer takes a roughly linear approach to US history and debunks various myths and common misconceptions along the way. I tend to be a centrist politically and I didn’t find the lecturer obviously biased in one direction or the other, which I appreciated. I didn’t find that any particular lecture seemed to drag, nothing seemed out of place, and each lecture flowed smoothly from one to the next. Clearly, this guy has spent a lot of time honing the topics before setting down this recording.