Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need To Know About American History But Never Learned (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
The real problem with “Don’t Know Much About History” is that it prescribes to the Modern School of History, namely: anything white males did in the last 3,000 years is criminal, all of white men’s successes are on the backs of other people, and white men are very lucky. This is not to say DKMAH is a bad book or even bad history; its not. The book is, though, pedestrian in the info contained and in the events covered. However, what it lacks in material, it makes up for in righteous indignation. The book covers all the basic tenants of American history- from the discovery of America (which the book is quick to point out was already inhabited); the book then pokes fun at Columbus for naming the natives “Indians” because Columbus thought he was in India (this is actually disputed among historians; its widely speculated that Columbus’ name for the Natives was “in diego” which means in Spanish “with God”; no surprise, the author does not mention this), to Americas wars (always dressed in the garb of Imperialism, sans Darth Vader) and this nations really sad record on civil rights. In other words, DKMAH takes relish in pointing out what a nasty country you live in. And mutes the good stuff. I will give the book credit: it shines a spotlight at the areas of American History that may not have been covered by the history books, most notably, the destruction of the Native peoples, the full encompassment of the slave trade, etc. However, the tone set by the book is that everything we all have is as a result of past generations awfulness.The book also has a peculiar double standard. Most notable:-Complete absence of Indian slaughters of settlers in colonial times; -Peculiar word usage. As an example, when whites abduct Native children, its called “kidnapping”; when Natives did it to whites its called “adoption.” -In later years, there is blatant over-exaggeration of the American’s racism against the Empire of Japan in WWII; historical records show that the US thought the Japanese a potent enemy after Pearl Harbor; conversely, there is zero mention in the book of the blatant Japanese racism against the Americans even AFTER Midway. The book also has a really weird need to be overly offended and almost indulges in a “race to be the most outrageous.” The white settlements of Native lands are called ”genocide” and openly compared to Nazi Germany; a riot in Tulsa Oklahoma is referred to as “Ethnic Cleansing.” The last half of the book is solid; it clearly details Vietnam’s disaster and the problems of Watergate, which most modern history classes completely overlook. However, while the book is quick to talk about every single civil rights setback, the book spends no time (ZERO) explaining the technological advancements of the nation after the Civil War and the names “Thomas Edison” and “Alexander Graham Bell” are not even mentioned. By reading this boo, while there is a long diatribe on JFK’s assassination and conspiracy theories (the book begrudgingly admits there was no conspiracy), you would not even know McKinley and Garfield were also assassinated.The very final part of the book is an essay by the author called “American Terror” which was written by the author in the wake of the September 11 tragedy. I have to say that while I was mildly irked by the author’s attitude up to this point, this next part blew my mind. The author openly compares the terrorists’ attacks of Sept 11 to the Little Rock standoff (where nobody died, but where black people were tormented by white people), along with MLK’s assassination (the author comes dangerously close to saying the FBI did it), and several relatively mild acts, but then deftly talks about John Brown. Basically, every single bad thing Americans did thorough their history is analogous to the terrorist attacks (including building the atomic bomb to use against an enemy that openly attacked us). I really was fed up with the book by the end.However, take my review in stride. If you have always wanted to learn more about American history, add 2 stars to my review. If you are looking for deep nuggets of info that you missed, this book will prove woefully inadequate. While there were times I found myself saying, “I didn’t know that”, they were few and far between. I was relatively unimpressed with this very mediocre look at our history.
Every American should be lashed to a chair and forced to read this book. That's the sort of thought that pops into my head every now and then when I get in touch with my inner-despotic dictator. A benevolent despot, I hasten to add, because it truly would do all my fellow citizens a world of good. Americans are frighteningly ignorant about many things, especially their own history. Eventually my inner-freedom-fighters overthrow my inner-despot, and re-establish the right of all Americans to be ignorant, misinformed, uneducated, and stupid. That's the American way! On a positive note: Americans are no more ignorant and misinformed today than they have been throughout our history. Listening to the unbelievably stupid things coming out of talk radio and the internet (and occasionally from the mouths of vice-presidential candidates), one can easily despair that the end of our country cannot be far off. But one of the points that this book makes, and which, ironically, I take some comfort in, is that we've been a nation of idiots all along. The founding fathers were themselves benevolent despots. They recognized way back then that pure "democracies" were simply opportunities for powerful and wealthy demagogues to manipulate stupid people to their advantage. That's why we have a democratic republic, and not a pure democracy. That's why we have an electoral college. Because, as the founding fathers recognized, many if not most people in this country are woefully ignorant and could be used like tools by rich evil bastards. The checks and balances they established over 200 years ago were put in place largely as a defense against "mob rule," to prevent silver-tongued puppeteers from taking complete control by lying to the uneducated masses, who have not, for example, ever read a history book. Thanks to the vision of those founding fathers, our republic has survived for over two centuries. It's survived wars, revolutions and depressions. Time will tell whether or not it will survive Fox "news."
What do You think about Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need To Know About American History But Never Learned (2004)?
A friendly question-and-answer format with entertaining answers about American history from Columbus to Clinton. The post-Watergate coverage is pretty slim, but at that point it could probably be assumed that most readers remembered those years clearly. (There is an updated version, but my copy was printed in 1995.) I learned quite a bit about those bits we skipped in school, like the Vietnam and Korean Wars. Though it could not replace a traditional history course, since there is an assumption that you know enough basic information to ask the questions being answered, it is an excellent refresher for those who have long since forgotten the names and dates they learned in school. Like most good popular history books, it brings out the human side of history, turning the names into people and the dates into actions with consequences.
—melydia
Where else can you get an easy-to-read overview of 500 years of American history--from who really discovered America to how we elected our first black president--and have FUN reading it? I saw author Kenneth C. Davis interviewed on CNN and was mesmerized by what he had to say and how he said it. When they flashed his credentials on the screen as the author of this book, I bought it immediately. This isn't your high school or college history textbook. This one is so much fun you might even stay up past your bedtime reading it! Quite simply, read this book and you'll be quite literate when it comes to the big facts about our nation's past--whether you want to win at Trivial Pursuit, impress someone at a cocktail party or (most important) develop an understanding of why and how things happened THEN that deeply impact our NOW.
—Cathryn Conroy
Its always disconcerting when the first few lines of a book try to turn George Washington's prayer at Valley Forge into a farce made up by hyper religious people. Right then I knew I was reading a book written by a liberal. But I continued. He spent the first chapter cutting down Columbus and his greediness in order to explain that he wasn't the first person to discover American land (duh!) and then never answered who really did (Amerigo Vespucci). I thought his history way too basic at this point but I continued. I went on to read how the Pilgrims were another way too religious sect and I had enough. You better know your real history before you read these "facts".
—Alison
