Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis Search Amazon for other books by or about Kenneth C. Davis. Rating: Reviewed by: John L. Hoh, Jr.

Series Comments:
In recent years pollsters and sociologists have taken polls and studies to gain some insight into the American public's awareness of historical events and geographical facts. Usually the news isn't very encouraging. In many cases these studies find that very few young people seem to be able to identify the major continents, large cities in America, or significant cities in the world. Extreme cases are often cited: certain percentages fail to locate Mexico City in Mexico, perhaps. One must ask if the American public is receiving a poor education or if we as a society really do not care about such matters.

Kenneth C. Davis gives one possibility:

"What's wrong with our sense of direction? Maybe it is this simple: Americans became geographically stupid when gas stations stopped giving out free road maps."

With a tongue-in-cheek opinion such as that Kenneth Davis sets out to make history and geography fun for his reader. His method is not a simple rote recitation of facts, dates, places, and events. Rather, he sets up questions phrased so that you want to get it answered. Then, he sets out to answer the questions he asks. Each chapter is set up in this way. You can read the books straight through, or you can hunt and peck your way through various aspects you might find intriguing.

Kenneth Davis's questions are by no means "academic." He leavens them with a touch of humor. Examples that provide mirth include:

"How come the Nile River flows up?"
"Why didn't the Chinese, the Africans, or the Arabs 'discover' America?"
"Earthquakes: Who's at fault?"
"Did God 'shed his grace' on all of North America? Or did he stop at the U.S. borders?"
"Where did the Underground Railroad run?"
"Who swallowed the Sandwich Islands?"

Other questions bring up things we may have thought about at one time or another but never really knew the answers to:

"What are checks and balances?"
"Why was Uncle Tom's Cabin the most important and controversial American novel of its time?"
"Where does all the water go at low tide?"
"Who was 'Little Mac'?"

Kenneth Davis uses humor in answering his questions. Answering "what are continents?", Davis responds, "With all the drifting and crashing of continents, it's a wonder they've stood still long enough for people to give them names" (Geography, p. 98). He also sets up "dialogues" that may have happened:

"Okay, Mr. President. Here's the situation. You're about to invade Japan's main islands. Your best generals say hitting these beaches will mean half a million American casualties. Other estimates go as high as a million. General MacArthur tells you that the Japanese will continue guerilla-resistance for ten years. Based on horrific battle experience-from Guadalcanal to Okinawa-you believe the Japanese will fight to the death.... Now you have a bomb with the destructive power of 20,000 tons of TNT. (History, p. 315)

An answer like that helps to explain why Truman dropped the atomic bomb in a way a debate never could. The format of these questions and answers may be familiar to many of you, especially 'Net surfers. The format is similar to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) format used on many Web sites.

The books as a whole are lighthearted while being informative. The vein of scholarship is closer to Ken Burns' style than to the style employed by your high school teacher. The presentation is not dry, but recounts those things that not only affected the lives of nations, kingdoms, and empires, but also that affected personal lives.

A historian who sees fit to print Nixon's Checkers speech, quote from works of literature and personal diaries, and have a lighthearted approach to his subject should be given a lot of credit. Many "orthodox" historians may object to Davis' approach, but many of these same "orthodox" historians also object to the ignorance of the American public in matters of history and geography. Learning history should be fun-whether your idea of "fun" is reading dry, scholarly tomes or reading an account that makes history come alive and geography seem relevant to your life is a choice we all enjoy as Americans.