Customer Reviews

A Concise History of Kentucky

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I were a social studies teacher in Kentucky at the middle grade level, I would make sure every student in my class had access to this book. It provides a great overview of the state's history and is filled with fascinating stories of real people.

If you have a class with a wide range of reading abilities at the middle or high school level, as most teachers do, this book could be used with the students who have greater difficulty reading texts, while other students read the regular class text. Though it is easy to read, and concise, it is comprehensive. It could also be used to provide a general background about Kentucky before students study some aspect of the state's history in more depth.

I gave it only four stars because it is so easy to read - it's not for the person who enjoys depth and complexity - as can be predicted from the title. But I did enjoy learning a great deal very quickly.

This book is just what its title states, concise! The Klotters nicely introduce the history from Paleo-Indians through the Civil War to Mohammad Ali and the future. At time perhaps they skimp on particulars, for example on settlement of Kentucky they states "Another early settlement was called St. Asaph's and then Logan's Fort", but no dates are included. Sometimes in an attempt to reduce broad concepts the writing may appear trite "All those settlers and many more faced hardship and pain, yet they survived. They cried for the dead, but they went on living. Such courage helped shape the state". Perhaps the best writing are in the short vignettes entitled Kentucky Lives and Kentucky Voices. In Kentucky Lives we are introduced to the likes of Mary Ingles (first European woman in Kentucky) to Thomas Merton. If Kentucky Voices, he allows the person or event to speak for themselves, such as writing of young girls from the Union and Confederacy, or a report on the state of the schools in 1921. A good set of photographs, maps, and tables are included to further present the states history.

A wonderful book to dip into. A great deal of Kentucky history in a compact volume.