The Complete Idiot's Guide to U.S. History, Graphic Illustrated

by Kenneth Hite, Shepherd Hendrix, Leah Hayes

History comes alive Presented in a high-impact, graphic novel format, "The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to U.S. History, Graphic Illustrated" is a visually exciting and easy-to- understand alternative to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592577857
• ISBN13: 9781592577859
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 193 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

An Enjoyable Read

The book is divided into five parts: Part one covers the beginning of the Revolution until the end of the War of 1812. Part two primarily covers the events leading up to the Civil War, such as the compromises on the issue of slavery, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War itself. Part three covers the reconstruction era, the Gilded Age, and the labor movements. Part four covers the Spanish-American War and ends with the end of World War II. Part five covers the Cold War and the post-Cold war era up to the election of Barack Obama. The book itself tries to cover almost all of American history in a comic book format with a bit of humor thrown in. Overall, I found it highly enjoyable. It does not seem for everyone, though. The book assumes you already knows some things about American history. There are many historical and political jokes one may not get unless they are already learned in history. However, if you paid attention in school it really should not be a formidable task to read. My only real big criticism of the book is that it starts at the beginning of the Revolution. As such, there is nothing about Christopher Columbus, Jamestown, the pilgrims, or really anything before the 1770s (the French and Indian War gets mentioned, but without much detail). This was the biggest disappointment for me. Inevitable for the comic book format, there is some omissions and simplifications. But it really does not detract from the overall quality. Still, I enjoyed reading it. Most people with an interest in American history would probably enjoy it and appreciate the dash of humor thrown in.

The Perfect Introduction To U.S. History

This book breaks U.S. history up into five parts, starting right before the Revolutionary War and goes to current time (the election of Obama). You can easily read through a section an evening and end up with an excellent overview of U.S. history in less than a week. In 180 pages or so Ken was able to sum up over two hundred years of history, hitting the presidents and major events -- many of which you probably never heard of. He also interweaves longer term themes, such as the treatment of African Americans -- from slavery to a black president. The text is only part of the package, as this is a Graphic work -- AKA a "comic book". Each event is illustrated by Shepherd Hendrix. The visuals help to make the enjoyable prose even more fun (and there is plenty of humor thrown in, to prevent things from getting too dry). The wonderful combination means that you can actually give a history book to a child and not hear them groan in agony. Heck, it means that you can give a history book to an adult who "doesn't like history". There should be a copy in every school library. Not because it is the end-all-be-all of history books, but because it will teach people more about their past. And, if we are very lucky, it will get some people interested in history who may not have otherwise.

Complete smarty-pants guide to US History

It's too smart. The brief on Kissinger's weaseling on LBJ's weaseling to Nixon- smarter than the Christopher Hitchens version. So's the stuff on Thomas Paine's influence. So's the rest of teh dang book. Vivid in style, evocatively phrased- smart. Too smart. But it's just a comic book. So maybe even today's dumb kids will grow up knowing this stuff. Wish I had. Get it for your kids, read it yourself. Make your kids look up every proper noun; half the best bits improve with sourcing.