Don't Know Much About the Civil War : Everything You Need to Know About America's Greatest Conflict but Never Learned

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Summary: The way the Civil War should have been taught in high school
Review: I'm not a Civil War History maven. I read this book because I thought that my knowledge of the Civil War was superficial at best, and I needed a context for the "microhistories" of individual battles or specific historical characters. Davis does an admirable job of putting the War into its proper perspective, tracing causes back to the settlement of the colonies, and repercussions up to the present. Frequent use of quotes from contemporary speeches, diaries, and writings give both sides of the struggle an eloquence and sense of national tragedy that I had not experienced before. Don't expect a detailed tactical account of individual battles, though Davis did manage to weave in enough of the military minutia to satisfy me. As in his "Don't Know Much About History" he surfaces fantastic facts and coincidences that I love, like the fact that Lincoln's son was present at the assasination of both Garfield and McKinley. Wonder what modern conspiracy theorist would have made of that

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Summary: WORTHLESS
Review: If the world ran out of toilet paper I still would not recommend this book. A more appropriate title would be "The Civil War for mindless simpletons who are too lazy to read a real history book."

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Summary: fantastic book great read throughout and objective
Review: If you are already a fan of kenneth davis's other books then this will not disappoint you. His funny and irreverent style keeps book interesting for anyone. Also little known facts are brought up through out book. This is a must read for anyone even vaguely interested in this most important topic.

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Summary: Sniveling condescending Left wing diatribe
Review: If you are looking for a book that does a cover to cover job of bashing western civilization with complete and obvious bias, this is it.

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Summary: It was a great book
Review: It told me alot about the civil war that I didn't know. I consider myself an expert on the civil war. It was a real eye opener. Everyone should read this book.

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Summary: Don't Know Much About The Civil War
Review: Kenneth C. Davis has done a remarkable job of making a
sometimes dull and often hard to follow subject as the Civil War
interesting and down to earth. Fancying myself a history buff I
thought I knew most of what I wanted to know about this period
in our nations great history, but the author brought out many
fasinating facts about individual players involved in this conflict that I had not known. Even my wife and nine-year-old daughter have spent many hours absorbed in these stories of bravery, cowardice, leadership, hatred, and sometimes stupidity. In fact we are currently on our second set of audio tapes because the first wore out from the repeated use.
History buff or history dope "Don't Know Much About The Civil War" will give you an exciting look at a subject that for most hasn't always been that exciting.

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Summary: engaging yet condescending
Review: Kenneth Davis' book's question/answer style format makes this book easy to read and very informative. Unfortunately, many of his enteries do not readily answer the questions he poses and, what's more, he leaves the reader feeling talked down to. This book has its purpose though: I found the format and the concise entries useful when touring civil war sites. But, if you want to know everything you "need to know about America's greatest conflict," you won't get it here. It's a good starter book to introduce the topic, but from here, McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom of Foote's trilogy on the Civil War are much needed.

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Summary: A refreshing look at a terrible conflict
Review: Many who have read Kenneth Davis' books ("Don't Know Much About History" and "Don't Know Much About Geography") may have wondered when this book released how humor and light-heartedness could be used in reporting the basic truths of the Civil War, one of the darkest hours in our nation's history. Indeed, Davis does it with exquisite skill. Of course, by reading and quoting Lincoln, no doubt Mr. Davis realized, as Lincoln did, that some humor was needed to break the agony and tension surrounding this awful conflict. After reading this book, I went back to watch the Ken Burns' series on the Civil War--and noticed that this great work also used humor, especially those ironic or sardonic comments written by soldiers who were involved in the conflict firsthand.

Rating:
Summary: A refreshing look at a terrible conflict
Review: Many who have read Kenneth Davis' books ("Don't Know Much About History" and "Don't Know Much About Geography") may have wondered when this book released how humor and light-heartedness could be used in reporting the basic truths of the Civil War, one of the darkest hours in our nation's history. Indeed, Davis does it with exquisite skill. Of course, by reading and quoting Lincoln, no doubt Mr. Davis realized, as Lincoln did, that some humor was needed to break the agony and tension surrounding this awful conflict. After reading this book, I went back to watch the Ken Burns' series on the Civil War--and noticed that this great work also used humor, especially those ironic or sardonic comments written by soldiers who were involved in the conflict firsthand.

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Summary: Pass the car time with a little history.......
Review: My husband and I bought this book while on our honeymoon this year and used it to pass the time while driving through the Midwest. We are self proclaimed Civil War buffs, who actually took a honeymoon touring Civil War Battlefield Sites, so a beginning lesson in Civil War history was not necessary. So many details, about the cause, precursors, baettles and aftereffects of the Civil War are discussed, that anyone can learn something new from its contents. Asking the questions before laying out the stories seemed a bit pretentious at time,but the information given is so valuable, one does not seem to mind. At 6 hours, time slips by without notice, and gives a history lesson to boot. What more could a person want?