Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and accessible
Review: I bought this book several years to help me prepare for the State Department's Foreign Service written exam. I was pretty confident in my knowledge of foreign affairs and European history, but less so about the events that had occurred right here in my own backyard for the past 200+ years. Well, it really helped! I particularly remember questions on the exam about the Monroe Doctrine, the Missouri Compromise, and Marbury v. Madison that I could not have answered had I not read this book. I passed the exam, which is one of the most draining tests I have ever taken. It's like a super-SAT for adults. Recently, I picked up this book again and thumbed through it. My one criticism is Davis's "anti-Manifest Destiny" rhetoric, which is true, I suppose, of most modern historians, with the exception, perhaps, of the incomparable Stephen E. Ambrose. General George A. Custer described as "probably deranged" is pure revisionism! Straight out of "Little Big Man," the 1968 movie with Dustin Hoffman. Anyhow, that's my one beef in an otherwise fun and engaging read.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book
Review: Best book for a history major. I used it to pass the United States History AP test, and the book had everything that was on the test. The book gives you both sides of the arguement, and tells history how it was, not with a bias, like textbooks.
Rating:
Summary: Best History Ever Read
Review: This was the best book I have ever read that covered so much history - and I learned a lot from it. Speaking for someone who is taking classes to teach History to high schoolers, this book gave me a lot of information that would be great for pop quizzes etc. I could use this book along with a teaher's book and hopefully the kids will get something out of it. You have to teach that for every action, there is a reaction- and to this action...here is the reaction... It really is a great book, and for so many pages, it is also a quick read, because you can really get into it. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Undermined By Political Agenda
Review: Don't Know Much About History has a great gimmick: history is presented in short question/answer format that's easy to read and understand. It should be noted though that this is history from a far left perspective. The fact that it isn't marketed as such is deceptive. At times, this perspective is just another vantage on history and is worthwhile reading in a popular book. At other times the author's biases get in the way and the history presented is distorted or incorrect. The sections on The Great Depression, McCarthyism, Iran Contra, and the Clinton Scandals are not just colored with a view from the left, they are genuinely misleading. A more truthful general history can be found in: A History of the American People by Paul Johnson.
Rating: 
Summary: Not REAL history, but biased history
Review: Just like a newspaper, this author decides to cover certain events in history AND from a certain perspective (far left). Those of us who have learned American history in an AP class, where we read papers on a particular topics from the several authors (several perspectives), have the ability to see the entire "picture". This author chooses the perspective and, in most cases, ignores the TRUTH asbout a certain event. This teacher gives Mr. Davis a D for this book.
Rating:
Summary: You'll Know Something About History
Review: Author Kenneth Davis has provided the reader with over 600 pages covering a concise history of the American republic. Yes, I do agree with other reviewers that Davis is biased in some instances, but it may also be that he is just calling the shots as he sees them. President Eisenhower is criticized for his look-the other-way attitude towards civil rights, and quotes Ike as saying that appointing Earl Warren as chief justice of the United States was "the biggest damnfool mistake I every made." This came after Warren was instrumental in advancing civil rights of blacks. Should we not know Eisenhower's attitude in this regard? A courageous stance by this popular president may have done a lot of good, but Ike chose the easy way out. A couple of other quotes I enjoyed in the book may speak of bias, but I found them to be worth remembering. The earthy Lyndon Johnson saying of Gerald Ford: "Shucks, I don't think he can chew gum and walk at the same time....He's a nice fellow, but he spent too much time playing football without a helmet." The line I like the best will hit a nerve with a lot of people, I'm sure, but it was attributed to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin while you might want to assign it to former Chicago mayoral windbag, Big Bill Thompson, New York City political fixer William "Boss" Tweed, or someone else who may come to mind. It reads as follows: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." To sum up the book I would say the United States of America has to be a great country to survive a great number of the presidents that have been at the helm throughout its history. Scandals of one kind or another have plagued several administrations while others have been highlighted by mediocrity. I found the book to be both informative and entertaining. It took me a week to pioneer my way through it, but it was worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Bias mars an otherwise strong effort
Review: "Don't Know Much About History" is as hard a book to recommend as it is hard to truly scorn. Author Kenneth Davis succeeds in offering a single-volume, broad view of American history, covering most major events and eras in simple, accessible language. Yet Davis fails to craft a balanced book, his own political viewpoints and biases too often intruding upon the text. It's unfortunate. As it purports to do, "Don't Know Much..." runs the gamut of American history, from the earliest explorers to September 11, 2001, and just about every major event in between. Events are summarized and explained in easy to understand language, making this book a great starting point for those just developing a love for history, or those just looking to refresh their memory of lessons learned long ago. Interspersed throughout the tome are timelines on major events (the Civil War, World War II) and quotes from key historical figures. Overall, the presentation is wonderful and will be a boon to those with even a passing interest in history. A well-formatted piece. Unfortunately, despite his claims otherwise, the author fails to leave his own political viewpoints out of the text. (Certainly the preface in the revised edition, where Davis spends pages telling you why the book is NOT biased, screams of protesting a bit too much). His viewpoint intrudes too often, increasingly so as the book grows closer to modern times. As far as Davis is concerned - or at least as far as he writes - business in America is a Great Evil, never having done anything that wasn't corrupt, dishonest and brutal to the working man. Not once does he offer a success story about business improving the American way of life through technology or economic means, yet dozens of examples are given about what mean-spirited murderers businessmen are. The transcontinental railroad, for instance, did not link the two coasts and thrust America into the future, it murdered thousands of workers for the petty gain of greedy rich industrialists. An objective writer would have noted that it did both. Such is Davis' vision for all of American history. America saw no instances of bravery, or sacrifice, or grand vision, or good intentions in Davis' America (even those who fought slavery did so out of greed, not a desire to free slaves, he writes). America saw no inspiration, no can-do spirit, no hands-on building of a new world. Certainly nothing worth being proud of. Only greed, murder, racism, and more greed. Davis harps on these themes repeatedly. It a pattern he repeats throughout the book. There is only one side of the American story Davis presents; that of greed and racism. Davis' propensity to inject racist motivations into event after event, even when the historical record supports no such motivation, is equally troubling. America's history with racism is disturbing and shameful; that it is well-chronicled here is unquestionably commendable. Yet the author also seems to chronicle racism in almost every action taken by America since its inception, whether or not there is any indication that race played a part in the event. He assigns racist attitudes to some not out of proof, but out of his own assumptions. The message is clear: If it's a white male, it must be racist. Don't Know Much's take on more recent history is most troubling in its bias. It would be difficult to chronicle here without sparking a political debate, but suffice it to say, Davis has a side of the story he wants to tell, and he tells it. Even if it's only half the story. (The best 'for instance' is that during Reagan's eight years in office, the only thing that ever happened was Iran Contra. Reagan slept through the rest, according to the Davis version of the 80s. While some would agree, it's hardly an objective or balanced view of history). None of this is to say the book does not have merits. It does. The writing is crisp, fast-paced yet detailed, and informative. The humor is light and welcome. Most eras in America's history are covered, including very good coverage of the pre-Revolution years, a period often overlooked in history books. The pace of the reading is brisk, yet the information rarely stops flowing, a feat few historical writers can manage. Davis also makes an effort to put events in the context of their times, and to contrast events with what came before and after. Putting history in its place helps us understand it better, and here the author does well. It is an engaging book to read. Bias aside, Don't Know Much About History is easy to recommend to a casual reader just looking for a quick primer on American history - with the caveat that they are getting a skewed view of things. The book will be all but worthless to the student of history - you won't learn anything new here, though you may be entertained. And the book may well be abrasive and irritating to those who want their history with a little more balance. But as a single-volume chronicle of American history that is both complete and well-written, it would be difficult not to recommend this. The bias is there, but for readers willing to look past it, this is a solid selection. A great idea by Davis, and a fine enough effort that fails only because of too much editorializing, and even then the failure is not so big as to spoil the whole thing.
Rating:
Summary: It's a shame...
Review: I enjoy learning about history, so I was anxious to hunker down with this book hoping to learn a little more about the history of this great country. Like most people, when I read a history book, I expect a fact-based, reasonably unbiased account of the events. Unfortunately, this book is anything but that. The authors view is so obviously skewed to the left that he distorts the facts to ensure his biases are well represented. If you are like me and want an unbiased account of history, this is definitely not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A good reference book
Review: When I bought this book I was looking for an easy-to-read introduction to American history. This book was highly recommended to me. The format is interesting; its chapters are separated into time periods and Davis approaches his history as a series of answers to questions like: "What was the Bill of Rights" and "Who was right? The Warren Commission or Oliver Stone?." This format makes this book perfect for readers who have a question about a certain event or person and for trivia buffs (like the person who recommended the book to me in the first place). I read the book front to back and I was sometimes confused about the chronology of events, since this book is not your typical chronological narrative. However, I have to give credit to Davis for including several timelines which I found useful in two respects: (1) it gives a sense of order to all the information he gives; (2) it gives a straightfoward, no-nonsense outline of events without all the extra (and sometimes distracting) details. He also includes interesting quotes from interesting people such as Meriwether Lewis, Malcolm X, and Helen Keller, and recommendations for further reading. Davis adds life and wit to his account of American history, which is highly accessible and straight-forward. I definitely learned a lot from this book!
Rating:
Summary: Every Thing Is Biased
Review: I have not actualy read the whole book, rather my American History teacher uses it occasionally uses it in his lessons. However, reading the comments written about this, I would like to point out that you can't expect this book to be unbiased. You can't expect an encyclopedia, or a biography about George Washington, or even the Bible to be unbiased. If someone wrote it, it's biased. So for anyone claiming that this book is bad because it's biased, so are you.
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