Here, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut as a New York Times best seller, is the revised, updated, and expanded edition of the classic anti-textbook that changed the way we look at history. First published two decades ago, when the “closing of the American mind” was in the headlines, Don’t Know Much About® History proved Americans don’t hate history—just the dull version that was dished out in school.
Now Davis has brought his groundbreaking work up to the present, including the history of an “Era of Broken Trust”, from the end of the Clinton administration through the recent Great Recession. This additional material covers the horrific events of 9/11 and the rise of conspiracy theorists, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and the failure of the New Orleans levees, the global financial meltdown, the election of Barack Obama, and the national controversy of same-sex marriage.
©2011 Kenneth C. Davis (P)2011 Random House
“Fun, engrossing, and significant.... History in Davis’s hands is loud, coarse, painful, funny, irreverent—and memorable.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
"A great history refresher"
I have listened to this book a couple of times. I originally purchased this book as a refresher on American history because my children were asking questions that I know I knew at one point but needed a quick refresher. Now I find myself skipping to the part of the book I am looking for more on.
The format of the book is a little odd and takes some getting used to. Once you get used to some of the book formatting that doesn't fit well in an audio book it is just fine. The other disappointment is that most of the United States Civil War has been removed and moved to it's own book. This was a pretty significant bit of history that gets glanced over.
"what you miss in school"
i love the dont know much books davis has a great way of puting togather info that you might have missed in school due to many reasons once you read one of his books you well want to read them all
"boring lists of dates and facts"
Read the title and you will understand the intended audience. If you are looking for deeper, behind-the-scenes insights, skip this one. Audio also chronologically lists dates and events to summarize some parts of history, which added to the boredom. I waited for a month to accumulate my two credits for this book, only to be disappointed.
Hobby- Military History Occupation- Retired Commander USN; Retired Director of Quality Assurance; Graduate Liberty University, Lynchburg VA; Residence-Waverly Ohio
"NOTHING LEARNED BY READING THIS BOOK EITHER"
Based on the title of this book, I looked foward to reading this book; However, about 1/2 way through the book, it became clear to me that this book only rehashed key events, most of which have been discussed much more in-depth in a significant other book. I do not feel like I learned a single thing as a result of buying and listening to this book. I was going to complete the book;However when the author spent more time explaing why we were wrong to drop the A-Bomb on Japan, than he did on subjects like the depression era, or the 2nd half of the 19th century. I dedided to trash this book!!!