Customer Reviews

Don't Know Much About History - Updated and Revised Edition

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

 

 

The audio version is an excellent way to learn about American History. Very thorough coverage organized in a question and answer format. Not at all dry or dull because it contains lots of interesting snippets about personalities and trivia. Easy to navigate between different sections and replay bits. I just loaded several discs into the car at once and listened to it on the go.

I would highly recommend this product.

Okay, I have to be honest. I am one of those Americans who really don't know much about US history. Well at least, I am willing to admit it. My kids are starting school soon so I thought this is the best time to brush up on my history (just in case it comes up when they have Homework questions). Also, I have a pretty long commute so I decided to get this audio version (it's about 20 CDS long). It starts off with Colonial America and ends at the current Bush administration.

PROS: Great chronological timeline of events. And I liked the whole question/answer format. I also liked the sections on Native Americans and Black History. At the end of each section, there are additional book recommendations that offer deeper perspectives of the subject.

CONS: They had a couple of actors who actually read out speeches/ conversations of some prominent Americans (JFK, Carter, Washington, Martin Luther King JR) but the problem was that the voices ALL sounded the same. What kind of "acting" is that??

Overall, I though it was time and money well spent.

Well this is my first review and I will say the audio version (I also have the book) is fantastic. If you are looking for an easy way to brush-up or familiarize yourself with history, this will do it. The "reader" is great, the "other readers" are, as noted in a previous review, well ... lacking. Pretty much everyone from Columbus to JFK to MLK sound like an odd cross between Thurston Howell the Third (Gilligan's Island fame) and Captain Kirk - cant imagine it, well, you'll see. It nonetheless is, including this fault, a fantastic reading of a very good history book that is very easy to listen to - and I am not really a history fan.
Cheers.

I'm a bit perplexed at the criticism directed at this book based on political bias. Kenneth C. Davis attempts to present both sides of the sitaution with his book. For example, he presents Lincoln as somebody who used the decree to free the slaves to both political and military advantage in addition to being the right thing to do. He initially issued the Emancipation Proclamation focusing on slaves in areas that the Union had won over avoiding applying it to Union areas where it would and could cost unrest among the public (they were afraid that slaves would undercut their wages and also that it would make them less interested in the fight since it would suddenly focus on the freeedom of the slaves and not the integrity of the Union). He also points out that Lincoln while he didn't believe in slavery was a man very much of his time who had beliefs that could be seen as racist. In other words, Lincoln was a man of vision but a product of his era.

The same could be said for just about ANY of the political situations/figures mentioned in this book whether it be Teddy Roosevelt's decision to build the Panama Canal or Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in spite of the fact that it was clear that the Japanese war machine was failing but that information came out in a report a year AFTER Truman dropped the bomb (no help). On balance he also points out that while those who created the gadget understood in theory what it would do in reality beyond creating a major explosion. Theories ranged from the fact that the initial test would light the atmosphere on fire to the fact that people exposed to the bomb were more likely to die from a falling brick than from radiation exposure (radiation wasn't as well understood then--hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20 in both history and morality).

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY has its flaws certainly--there are some minor mistakes that occur in the book and while Davis tries to be as fair balance as possible, it's impossible for an author NOT to insert some of their bias into the narrative they write by their choice of words, what they choose to highlight, etc. but on the whole he does an exceptional job of covering a wide variety of subjects about American history the "discovery" of American (and the controversey that ensued in retrospect).

Davis brings his considerable knowledge, research skills and intelligence on an impossible accomplishment--to boil down the essential and most important parts of American history and put them fairly in a 700 page book. His primary goal here was to make this book readable to reach those people who shun history books and classes because of poor teachers that focused on memorizing dates and now showing the context and WHY what happened is important to THEIR lives. Davis ultimately accomplishes this by pointing out what might have been vs. what actually happened in a number of areas from the Civil War to the changes that occurred in the 1990's. He also includes the Bill of Rights and some of the changes that occurred because of their introduction/interpretation/changes over time in an appendix in the back.

So while DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY isn't perfect, it's an exceptional attempt to digest important points in history, help those reading it understand it and why it is important to them but do so in a READABLE and ENTERTAINING fashion. Much like Carl Sagan made science fun to the average person in the 20th century, Davis is trying to do the same thing here with a very different canvas.

Heard the revised and updated version of DON'T KNOW
MUCH ABOUT HISTORY by Kenneth C. Davis . . . it presents
what is little more than a CLIFFSNOTES approach to the subject,
but if you can accept that up front, then you can sit back and
enjoy the question-and-answer format.

I liked revisiting a wide range of events from Colonial America through
the Bush administration and especially those that I personally
lived through: Watergate, Clinton's impeachment, the bizarre election
of 2000, the events leading up to September 11, etc.

As the author points out, what makes history come alive is
when stories are told . . . Davis certainly tells a lot of them
here, and it was fun to a history lesson wherein facts didn't need
to be memorized.

The narration by Jeff Woodman with Jonathan Davis was
workmanlike, though when they tried to do the voices
of various historical characters, they all seemed to be the same.

The product was listed as a audio cd. What arrived were some very old audio cassette tapes.

An excellent review of what you may have learned in school and why it may not be as exactly as taught. An eye opener and a wonderfully written book that makes history fun!

This is an excellent presentation of American Hisory that makes you realize the realities of life. It does tell it in all its mistakes and accomplishments. If you have an open mind and can accept criticisms you will enjoy the book.

I thought this would be a nice way to brush up on my U.S. history, but unfortunately the treatment is quite shallow and much of the dialog deviates from salient historical information. More suitable for grade schoolers or the very casual student.

After listening to "Don't know much about History," I still don't know much about history. The dialog, acting, is so bad, it pushes the listener away from hearing any of the content. You know that voice of a man or woman, when they go up an octave, and over emphasize the whole question? Well, that's what is throughout these audio cd's. And they crowbar questions between the asker and the reader. I mean, VERY big crowbars. Anyway, I couldn't make it through the second disc. It was THAT bad. The content was scattered, disconnected. I might have learned a thing or two if I didn't feel like I was in third grade all over again.