Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant Q&A Reading Style
Review: I found the book very entertaining without the cumbersome details of traditional history books. Details are fine but in casual conversation about history, who remembers them all? You will enjoy this book albeit I was a bit dissatisfied with the limited 1980's + information, information I thought would be well covered. The book moves quickly once this time frame is approached. Overall, I thought this book was worth it's cost.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but too cutsie
Review: I bought this book as one of the many people who did not learn (or remember anything of) history in school. While the book holds a great deal of useful information, I quickly found the Q & A format just too cutsie and somewhat condescending, as if no one reading the book would be intelligent enough to simply read history but, instead, must have it fed to us in manageable little bites. I thought it would be highly readable; instead, I found it difficult to stay with for any length of time.
Rating:
Summary: Good Overview
Review: This book is very good for a general understanding of American history. Given that the average reader probably does not know much about history above the 8th grade level, it is a good thing that easy to read survey books like this exist. The question and answer format is escpically helpful in finding a quick peice of information. While not a comprehensive text-book by any means, it can certainly be helpful to students taking an overview history class or to any reader who would like to get a feel for the United States' past.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish I read the reviews first
Review: Of course the author would emphasize different things than a standard history but his biases are evident. Kennedy assasination conspiracy theories! Come on, these were put to rest years ago. He does allow that there was strong evidence against Alger Hiss- now of course we have definitive proof from Russia. Although there is material of value in the book, I am afraid that if this was your primary exposure to US History you still wouldn't know much
Rating:
Summary: Political Correct History ?
Review: I read the book before reading the reviews. First mistake. As noted by several other reviewers, the book is laced hard factual errors. The author's liberal bias ... all business activity is bad, all organized labor activates are good. Couple this, with his invention of what motivated the minds of many history characters, make it all ludicrous. It is a sad commentary on our knowledge of history, when so many readers have rated this book highly. There are interesting tidbits throughout the book, but with so many absolute errors, I certainly will not be passing along any of these tidbits as fact.
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting, very well done.
Review: In an attempt to further educate myself, I picked up this book, and a few others, at a local store. I thorougly enjoyed it. It was exactly what I was looking for. There were major spots in history that I was completely oblivious to. I wanted to know what they were, but I didn't need to know every last detail. I just wanted a general understanding. This book delivers it. Another review of this book remarks how the author's opinion comes through. I agree. It comes through on many topics. However, I think it adds to the book. This isn't a text book. It's a history book that some guy wrote his own way. So what if his opinions come through? If I didn't want insight, I'd grab a high school text book.Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't know much about history until I read this book.
Review: I hated history in highschool and especially in college but Davis makes learning about the obscure but familiar facts and phrases in American history easier to understand.I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't get most of the historical jokes that are sometimes thrown around by "History" majors at the water cooler.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting for the "non-historian"
Review: Much has been said about what the author has left out. The author makes a decent attempt to condense American History into 480 pages of easy-reading. This book offers a different look at American history, one that our grade school teachers would never dare to teach. It offers a "Saving Private Ryan" look at history for those of us who grew up on John Wayne war flicks.
Rating:
Summary: The why of American history and easy to read
Review: I enjoyed this book a great deal. It is good light reading and provides some insight as to why events happen, not just that they did happen (ala school history classes). The author definitely has biases, which come through in his writing, but I learned more about American history from this book than I did way back in high school, and I enjoyed doing it!
Rating:
Summary: Author Don't Know Much About History
Review: The most appropriate place for the title of this book should be right after the author's name. Imagine writing, for example, the history of World War II without ever mentioning the Japanese before say 1942 or the Germans before perhaps 1943. This is pretty much the approach of this author with regard to "Indians" and "Whites." Incredible. Not much redeemingly good about America in this incompetent tome. If you believe, with Actor Matt Damon("Good Will Hunting") that author Howard Zinn is indeed "heavy" and if you agree on all principles with Noam Chomsky, then this book is just right for you. If not, it is just another brick in the wall.
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