Customer Reviews

The Essential America: A Narrative History (Volume 2)

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Book was in a little worse condition than I had expected. It does have more information than what we cover in my class, so it makes up for it's condition.

I am using this textbook in a 200 level college American history class. I am so dissapointed the professor didn't require a better book for us. It barely grazes over key important points in history. I find myself constantly on the internet trying to get more information to write my papers. It seems like it's written for high school level readers, but I wouldn't recommend it even for that. It's impossible to get a good understanding of what went on for any given topic. Also, it is very hard to reference information. Each chapter has timelines in the front which are helpful, and there is a website for quizes and such. In addition, the authors frequently make references to "people" when they simply mean "rich white males". Isn't it enough that our forefathers thought this way - the writers of history books in 2006 have to continue this tradition?? If only Howard Zinn or L. Loewen had written complete history books that can be used in the classroom. They write wonderful books exposing the lies and ommissions of standard history books, but they cannot in themselves be used in the classroom I believe.