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Kenneth C. Davis, author of the newly revised and updated edition of Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned. His official website is http://www.dontknowmuch.com.
Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know about American History But Never Learned
A new, completely revised, expanded and updated edition of the million-selling ew York Times bestseller that launched the entire Don't Know Much About® series.
When Don't Know Much About® History first appeared thirteen years ago, it created a sensation. With humor, wit, great stories, and a trademark conversational style, the book brought Americans a fresh new take on history. Shattering myths and vividly bringing the past to life, it spent thirty-five consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Davis proved that Americans don't hate history -- they just hate the dull textbook version they were force-fed in school. The book became an instant classic, an "anti -textbook" that has sold more than 1.3 million copies.In his irreverent and popular question-and-answer style, Davis now returns with a completely revised edition that brings history right up to the moment -- covering such topics as the end of the Cold War, Clinton's impeachment, the bizarre election of 2000, and the events that led to September 11.Incorporating new research and discoveries, Davis also updates and expands on such long-standing American controversies as the Jefferson-Hemings affair, the Alger Hiss trial, and the Rosenberg spy case. And he includes an expanded "civics lesson" that examines some of America's hottest social and political issues, such as the death penalty, gun control, and school prayer.
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Kenneth C. Davis's Summer Reading List
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
by Samantha Power
As the title implies, not exactly "light summer reading." But a Pulitzer Prize winner that I think is a very important book.
An Army at Dawn
by Rick Atkinson
Another Pulitzer winner, this is a history of the crucial campaign in North Africa during WWII. I am especially interested in it as my father served there.
Shutter Island
by Dennis Lehane
For pleasure I have always read "noir" thrillers and Lehane's new book, set in 1954, sounds terrific.
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
by Maria Tatar
To be honest, this falls into the category of research or "work reading," as I am writing a book about Mythology. But this is a fascinating look at the various versions of familair and not-so familiar childhood tales.
Cannery Row
by John Steinbeck
It woudn't be a summer reading list without Steinbeck! This is a great "slice of life" novel, filled with wonderful characters and set in the sardine canning town of Monterey. It opens, "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream..."
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