|
| America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation | 
 enlarge | Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $16.85
You Save: $10.10 (37%)
New (31) Used (9) from $16.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 8985
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0061118184
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.2
EAN: 9780061118180
ASIN: 0061118184
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Book, ALL days Low Price !
|
| Customer Reviews:
Stuff They Never Taught Me In School May 31, 2008
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
Untold tales are interesting, but the real value to me was what these tales revealed about the characters in them. Kenneth Davis did a great job of putting their lives and actions in a meaningful context.
Living not far from the Hutchinson River Parkway, I was fascinated by his take on the tale of Anne Hutchinson. I'd heard it before, of course, and knew the basics. What Davis told me, though, was that she had advised some of her male disciples not to join a militia at war with local Indians, making her an organizer of some of America's earliest conscientious objectors. He also pointed out that it was after her trial that the Puritans in Boston banned Roman Catholics, Quakers, and other sects. Her younger sister, who became a Quaker, was whipped for blasphemy. Another of her followers who joined the Quakers, Mary Dyer, was arrested, stripped in public, and lashed. Later, the defiant Dyer returned to Boston, refused to leave and was executed.
Davis gives us equally illuminating tales of George Washington as a headstrong and ambitious young man who committed a war crime, what Paul Revere really did during the Revolution, and how Daniel Shay stood up for his rights only to be crushed like a bug--making American stronger in the process.
America's Hidden History reads as if it were told from the inside, full of first-person accounts and other source material that give us a clear, relatively objective view of what our founding fathers (and mothers) were like.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo
very well written May 31, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
this was an easy read and I enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more but it was very entertaining.
America's Hidden History May 27, 2008
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
As person who needs to know history in order to fully understand this crazy world, I found Mr. Davis' book a great read! I was taken back to those times in way that I can understand why things turned out the way it did! He is one of the few historians that were able to show how people without money and position in the 18th century felt while the country was forming.
He is the first historian that I ever read to paint class tension through Shay's rebellion! In school this event was just one test question that was never fully talked about or analyzed. It was interesting to learn more of what the working class both slave and indenture people were feeling at the time. The first American Revolution in 1776 only replaced monarch rule with a burgeoning middling and upper class fortunate to take control. It wasn't until the 1780's and Shay's rebellion that woke up the early power class to realize how important it was to include all of the people--under 18th century definition of those who should be included in order that the country succeed!
As I was reading Mr. Davis's book, I felt he was talking to me directly which is a sign of a great thinker and writer!!! Good book!
 Disappointing May 22, 2008
55 out of 63 found this review helpful
Having read several of the author's previous "Don't Know Much About..." books, I looked forward to his newest product with anticipation.
Alas, this book does not meet a high standard. It's a strange book, because it focuses only on a small part of America's history (1565-1789) and it does so by telling six stories, none of them interrelated. The result is a book that is disjointed and lacks any kind of structure.
The stories offer some nice tidbits of historical research, but fail to make a compelling point. The chapter on Benedict Arnold, for instance, fails to address the fascinating question, Why did he do what he did? Sure, he was disappointed and possibly enraged at not getting the recognition he felt he deserved, and he had an awful pro-British wife, but one wishes to know more... Similarly, the final chapter, on Shays Rebellion, was a wake-up call that forced the Founding Fathers to really work on creating the right kind of Constitution and republic form of government, but how close a call was it? Was our new country (actually a collection of squabbling states) in serious danger of collapsing entirely? The author suggests this was the case, but doesn't support it vigorously. The reader is left hanging, wondering: What's the point?
Generally speaking, good history writing needs to be either extremely thorough, or fast-paced. This book, unfortunately, falls in the deadly middle and is boring.
 A fine work of fiction. May 9, 2008
35 out of 97 found this review helpful
I'm sure anyone reading this review is a history lover like I am, only AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY by Kenneth Davis isn't really a history book. In reality, this should be categorized as historical fiction.
Let me start by saying, the writing is very good and flows nicely if you are interested in a diversion from the usual fare of history books. You know, ones that are accurate. This is sort of a cross between Howard Zinn revisionism of history and Dee Brown omission or history.
If you're into a distorted dissertation about the evils of European man against the ideallic, pastoral lifestyle that pervaded North America and how evil conservatism in general is with regards to mankind, then this book is right up your alley.
|
|
|
| |
