The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History

by Alan Axelrod

Book Overview

In the fully updated fifth edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide? to American History, veteran author and researcher Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., explains the changing tides in America's most pivotal periods... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592578691
• ISBN13: 9781592578696
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

very good service

Everything was perfect. Good service, good product. The book was in a very good condition, as they stated ("like new"), and the deliver date was on time.

Ready to brush up?

I was looking around for something to help me brush up on my American History, but didn't want a 1,000 page book that wasn't going to keep my interest. This book is a very easy read with bullet points, stories, and fun facts. I wish I had this book when I was in grammar school! This book is a must read for anyone who wants to refresh their memory of American History. Plus its a fun book to read and you won't want to put it down. Even though you probably know the ending.

Interesting

After reading the previous reviews, I fully expected to get "American History Lite" when I read this book. What I did get instead was a book that while being primarily an overview describes the history of America in a clear, concise, and objective manner. As I enjoyed US history in school, reading through various chapters reminded me of "names from our past," George Washington, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, "Blackjack" Pershing, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, etc. It also makes it easy to recount historical facts. One thing that stood out as I read through the book: the amount of violence in our past, be it wars with either the Indians in the early days of our history or with other countries. Of course, both World Wars were major conflagrations that required our assistance in stopping.I will agree with one other reviewer on one point. This book I feel would have benefitted from some maps showing the routes that early voyagers to America took, progress of the colonies, what parts of the US were acquired through various treaties or purchases, etc. Perhaps these could be added in a future edition. Other than that, this book gives a good recounting of our history, up to Y2K.

An Intersting Read

As a person who is just starting to get interested in history, I really enjoyed reading the Idiot's Guide. Although at times Axelrod went a little skimpish on big topics (only 5 pages on World War I) and he didn't have much about the growth of the United States until about 1870, I would reccomend this book to anyone who has a taste for history!

Excellent Overview for the Newcomer

I really enjoyed this book.An a non-American it taught me an awful lot about American history in what I took as being from a very unbiased and impartial persepective. Politicians of both side of the devide are given equal voice and noted for both positive and negative achievements, similarly with English, Spanish, French, Black and Indian roles in American hsitory (or is it America's role in their histories?).Making the complex simple without making it stupid is the mark of a great summarizer, Axelrod does it extremely well.Buy the book. Enjoy life!