Customer Reviews

The Americans: With Atlas by Rand McNally

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4 star:		(2)
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This may be full of information, but to expect students to lug this door-stop around is ridiculous - it's a shame there are not other competitive textbook makers out there that would keep this company on its toes - it's information loaded, but no very inspiring to study from - a shame because students need to learn to take exams from this!

I used this book to teach a high school class on modern U.S. history concerning Eisenhower and the Cold War. It wasn't short on dates or facts, in its preentation of modern history, and was enlightening nad a great basis for which to instruct students on this subject. The photos are good, the history seemed sound, although I did not go through the entire book. I have no political agenda, right or left, perhaps someone who is very liberal in their political ideology, might prefer a different book.

I would say that most high school and college textbooks need to be taken with a grain of salt, and if parents are very concerned about the way that history is being presented to their children, the best thing is to go over everything that your child is considering in school, and present to the child or teen reading material from your angle. Teach the teen to think critically. They need to realize that just because a teacher persuasively presents a viewpoint from history or science, or because an authoritative books presents a particular viewpoint, does not make it hard fact.

Authors have their own politics, religion and ethics, and these can seep through into their textbooks. I am writing this, partially, in response to another review on this book.

However, all in all, I found that this was very good as a basis to teach students. If you hand the student a book and assignment from the book, you are not really teaching them. The history teacher should already have some pretty thorough grasp of this subject, and should be able to use the information here to teach the students about history. Give the students assignments which help them to develop critical thinking skills and to think deeply from different angles on history and interpretation of history.

This was a high school textbook in Newark, NJ, I thought it was adequate, and very good, and had thought about buying a reference copy for myself and family.

I was happy with the condition of the book.Someone stole my daughter's book at school and we needed to replace it.The book we bought was in better condition than the one she got from the school.I would use Amazon.com again

My oldest used this text for her third and fourth year history classes in high school. This book is a veiled attempt at re interpreting the facts from a right of center position. It downplays the importance of Jeffersonian democratic principles in the evolution of the our country. It is short on absolute facts and dates and attempts to draw the reader into its own fanciful interpretation.
In order for my daughter to get a good understanding of our country and its development through time, I (not the teacher) had to supplement this with as much objective fact as I could find. On-line sources were fine.
I urge you to to advise your child of the falacies of this text (Jeffereson Davis is not a hero) and if possible, have it removed as a text in your district.