History's Greatest Hits: Famous Events We Should Know More About [Import] [Paperback]

Joseph Cummins (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Murdoch Books (October 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1921259884
• ISBN-13: 978-1921259883
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,159,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After working for ten years at the Book of the Month Club, where he was Creative Director of several clubs, including Book of the Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, and One Spirit Book Club, Joseph Cummins went freelance in 2001. Since then he has published twelve books, mainly works of popular history. His publications include a novel, The Snow Train (Akashic Books, 2001); History's Great Untold Stories (National Geographic, 2007); Turn Around and Run Like Hell (Murdoch Books, 2006); Great Rivals in History (Murdoch Books, 2007); Anything For A Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns (Quirk Books, 2008); Cast Away: Shipwrecked, Marooned or Cast Adrift on the High Seas (Murdoch Books, 2008); The War Chronicles, Volumes I & 2 (Fair Winds Press, 2008-9); First Encounters with Unknown People (Murdoch Books, 2009); and The World's Bloodiest History (Fair Winds Press, 2010).His forthcoming books include Eaten by A Giant Clam: Great Adventures in Natural Science (Murdoch Books, September 2010); and Why Some Wars Never End: The Longest Conflicts in History (Fair Winds Press, November 2010).
Joe's YA credits include President Obama and a New Birth of Freedom (Collins, 2009) and the History's Greatest Hits: Famous Events We Should Know More About (Murdoch Books, 2010). All told, his titles have sold over 150,000 copies in America, Australia, Canada and the UK.
Joe lives with his wife and daughter in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick and Dirty Overview of History, August 27, 2009

By 

David Harte-Maxwell (Council Bluffs Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: History's Greatest Hits: Famous Events We Should Know More About (Paperback)

History's Greatest hits is a good overview of some of the greatest events of the past. I could design a pretty lively high school or college course around the book, and it was definitely an enjoyable read. It was quite easy to read a chapter in one read, either waiting for my kids or dinner to cook.

Mr Cummings writes in a folksy and engaging manner that keeps the interest up. He is talented at personalizing the everyday person, whether it be a soldier in a 'Pals Battalion' (The Somme) or regular citizens dying #The Black Death#.

Now that the 'Good' is out of the way, here's the dirty. Don't take the facts here as scholistic gospel, and if you are researching for an essay have a second source. Under 'D Day' he calls a unit 'the Winnipeg company' when it was 'The Royal Winnipeg Rifle Regiment' #battalion size#. In Battle of the Bulge he does worse - refers to the whole German 15th Army as a 'Division'. In some eyes those are minor errors, yet cause the whole book to be somewhat suspect.

For a book of this timeline the bibliography appears a bit thin as well. There is just enough in it to be able to state that he did research, but I'm sure he's read much more than what he's listed. John Keegan, Paul Kennedy, and Nial Ferguson are notable absences.

An overview of history limited to 37 events is bound to elicit questions about what the correct choices should have been. Frankly, it's a very American view of history, with the last half of the book largely dedicated to US actions. However, these events were, and are quite important.

In fact the first half of the book has some surprising entries. These include 'The Battle of Quebec', the 'Irish Potato Famine' and 'The Assassination of Julius Caesar'. 'The Black Plague' was also very good, but left unanswered questions, such as why the plague swept through the Volga region yet took five years ravaging Western Europe and the Baltic regions before getting to Moscow.

I would have liked to have seen the following, in addition to the 37 - The Boer War (precurser to The Great War), The English Civil War, the Russian Front in WW 2 (Russia is barely mentioned), Mao and the Great March (China), and those dirty little secrets - the Spanish-American war and Indian wars.

For all that criticism I still give it 4 stars. I won't quibble overly with the choice of subjects; limited to 37 events something's gotta be left out. If I were confident all the facts were correct I'd give this 5 stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only read one history book..., July 16, 2009

By 

Big D (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History's Greatest Hits: Famous Events We Should Know More About (Paperback)

For students of history or those only mildly interested, you should read this book.

Everyone could add to or takeaway from any list of historical events, but the author has created here a very good compilation of famous events from the first 2,250 years of modern history. While 19 of the events are military in nature, each of the 37 "hits" covered had global and lasting impact in shaping the world today.

Presented in chronological order, the six to eight page summaries are easy to read, get straight to the facts and leave the reader with a good, broad understanding of the event and its historical significance.

If you only read one history book, make it this one.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Omitting Jesus Christ, January 9, 2010

By 

Jesus loves the truth - See all my reviews

This review is from: History's Greatest Hits: Famous Events We Should Know More About (Paperback)

If people are so concerned about having a chapter on Jesus Christ, they should read the Bible instead. Let not your heart be so filled with the thoughts of God that you become prejudiced and lose your spirit and common sense in the search for truths.One cannot change the course of history by being religious. That's what happened when the Japanese "peppered" their history books to educate their young that Japan was the victim of WWII, instead of being an Aggressor.