Product Description

Kenneth C. Davis, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About History, presents a collection of extraordinary stories, each detailing an overlooked episode that shaped the nation's destiny and character. Davis's dramatic narratives set the record straight, busting myths and bringing to light little-known but fascinating facts from a time when the nation's fate hung in the balance.

Spanning a period from the Spanish arrival in America to George Washington's inauguration in 1789, America's Hidden History details these episodes, among others:

• The story of the first real Pilgrims in America, who were wine-making French Huguenots, not dour English Separatists
• The coming-of-age story of Queen Isabella, who suggested that Columbus pack the moving mess hall of pigs that may have spread disease to many Native Americans
• The long, bloody relationship between the Pilgrims and Indians that runs counter to the idyllic scene of the Thanksgiving feast
• The little-known story of George Washington as a headstrong young soldier who committed a war crime, signed a confession, and started a war!

Full of color, intrigue, and human interest, America's Hidden History is an iconoclastic look at America's past, connecting some of the dots between history and today's headlines, proving why Davis is truly America's Teacher.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259171 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Released on: 2008-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061118180
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"You'll learn lots in this engaging book of true, and often important, stories from U.S. history. These aren't the tales you'll find in most textbooks." (Joy Hakim, author of A History of US )

"With his witty and irreverent view of this country's Colonial and revolutionary past, [Davis] ably shows that the success or failure of isolated events can have national and international consequences. May we expect a sequel to this delightful effort?" (Library Journal )

"Writing from a rich font of scholarship, seasoning the facts with wit, irony and a novelist's eye for telling detail, Kenneth C. Davis has conjured back to life some of the most fascinating figures of America's founding decades. " (Ron Powers, co-author of Flags of Our Fathers )

PRAISE FOR AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY: "[M]errily removes the whitewash from an often-bland concept of the past, peeling people from their statues with tales of how some of the most famous Americans of whom you never heard shaped our nation." (Associated Press )

"Davis' engaging treatment is spicy but judicious.the book is far superior to standard high-school treatments, and a valuable reference for students young and old." (Publishers Weekly )

"Once again Ken Davis proves that what you don't know can be shocking. Do yourself a favor. Read this book." (Richard M. Cohen, author of Strong at the Broken Places )

About the Author

Kenneth C. Davis is the best-selling author of Don't Know Much About History, which spent 35 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold nearly 1.5 million copies, and gave rise to his phenomenal Don't Know Much About® series for adults and children. Davis appears frequently in the media, has spoken at the Smithsonian Museum and American Museum of Natural History, and has written for the New York Times and Newsday, among other publications. He has also contributed to NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in New York City and Dorset, Vermont.

From AudioFile
In looking at early America, from Spanish explorations to Shay's Rebellion, Davis starts by mentioning Flip Wilson and a comedy sketch about Queen Isabella. "History should be much more fun than most Americans believe it is," he explains before turning things over to narrator Sam Freed. Some anecdotes, describing the earliest "forensic dentistry" or the importance of a broken egg, are fun, but Freed mostly plays it straight. He's no lecturer, though; Freed's narration tells a dramatic story. Listeners may have heard some of these stories before--like the one about George Washington's alleged war crime--but will still enjoy the spin Davis and Freed put on these historic events. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
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.

Stuff They Never Taught Me In School
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

Hidden no more
Did you know that before he took up arms against the British and became our first President, George Washington, a young English officer ordered his Virginia militiamen to sneak attack a group of French diplomats during a time when both countries were at peace thus committing a war crime? The cowardly incident resulted in the start of the French and Indian War, but didn't quite make it into my high school history book.

To give away any more surprising stories for this review would surely do a disservice to the author and the reader. But take my word for it, this book is packed with many more interesting historic tales!

Kenneth C. Davis, best-selling Don't Know Much About History and other books in his Don't Know Much... series, does a wonderful job of bringing to light all of the quirky, informative, but always amusing tales of the stoic, and yes, sometimes flawed, figured that shaped our nation's fate.