Rating: 
Summary: Three Weeks to CLEP Success
Review: This book is blah in all its meanings. As in, "this book is blah," and "blah blah blah blah." Maybe I was just spoiled after my wonderful APUSH class and text, but this book has taught me so little that I didn't already know. I almost NEVER read the text in that class (please don't read this, Mr. Hardy), and I still do fabulously on the multiple choice and essays. Why? Because I read the handouts and I pay attention during discussions, both of which do me much, much more good than Mr. McKay ever has, or ever will. I did like the primary source bits, but I'd much prefer a book of straight primary sources to this terribly uninteresting book.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah.
Review: This book is blah in all its meanings. As in, "this book is blah," and "blah blah blah blah." Maybe I was just spoiled after my wonderful APUSH class and text, but this book has taught me so little that I didn't already know. I almost NEVER read the text in that class (please don't read this, Mr. Hardy), and I still do fabulously on the multiple choice and essays. Why? Because I read the handouts and I pay attention during discussions, both of which do me much, much more good than Mr. McKay ever has, or ever will. I did like the primary source bits, but I'd much prefer a book of straight primary sources to this terribly uninteresting book.
Rating:
Summary: Superb refresher and quick reference
Review: This tome, actually intended to be a textbook (thus the very substantial price), is a wonderful read and great for refreshing one's "Western civ" knowledge after being out of school over 30 years. I've always enjoyed history and it helps to have such a reference as this which presents a cogent overview of events. Certainly the book can't be all things to all people. For those areas of special interest, e.g., the Celts, one desires to obtain more in-depth sources. However, this work accomplishes what it sets out to do, to present in a mentally-digestible chronology the flow of the most significant events in Western society and to make it interesting and fun in the process. The fact that the book makes a fine general reference for home or library is an added benefit, i.e., it is not a publication to be perused just the one time. This is one of the very best history books of its kind!
Rating:
Summary: Superb refresher and quick reference
Review: This tome, actually intended to be a textbook (thus the very substantial price), is a wonderful read and great for refreshing one's "Western civ" knowledge after being out of school over 30 years. I've always enjoyed history and it helps to have such a reference as this which presents a cogent overview of events. Certainly the book can't be all things to all people. For those areas of special interest, e.g., the Celts, one desires to obtain more in-depth sources. However, this work accomplishes what it sets out to do, to present in a mentally-digestible chronology the flow of the most significant events in Western society and to make it interesting and fun in the process. The fact that the book makes a fine general reference for home or library is an added benefit, i.e., it is not a publication to be perused just the one time. This is one of the very best history books of its kind!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Companion to the Textbook
Review: Uh-oh...It's finals week and my history exam is tomorrow...AND I HAVEN'T STUDIED!!!Oh wait, no problem, I'll just use the STUDY GUIDE. Very good for reviewing (I can't see myself learning something new out of it), and for my final it was imperative in my being prepared. It is soooo much easier than looking for the important points in the textbook, as they're all there for you! It's a little expensive, but most textbooks are and it is definitely worth it. Buy and ace those history exams!
Rating: 
Summary: The dictionary of history
Review: Yeah, okay. So it deals with ALL of the history of Western society. So what? Here is a book so lacking in actual substance I would recommend only warding it away with burning torches. Would you study Thomas Hardy with only the Oxford English Dictionary and selected cliff notes? No. And neither should you study history with this. The earlier sections take make a brave attempt, but by the time they reach the 17th century the holes start to show. The writing is mind numbingly dull, the facts skip about like smoke particles, the maps are incomplete and the graphs are simplistic. I found myself bristling with rage at the ridiculously inaccurate depiction of the 1919-20 Paris Peace Treaties and the whole description of the 20s and 30s. I simply doubled over with laughter at the attempts to find SOMETHING to say about women in the middle ages. Women were oppressed and did little, but listen to them and women were the entire lynchpin of order. The only true stroke of brilliance is their focus on individuals of each era and excerpts from primary sources. These truly round off each chapter and save this book from the scrap heap. For the record, I am an 18 year old male studying for the AP European History test with this book. Thank the heavens that I knew something before wading into this book, and thank heavens for my teacher Ms Boyer. Otherwise I may have actually taken this to be about history rather than a stripped down factiod reel to designed for multiple choice essays.
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