Don’t Know Much About History
Product Description
From Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don’t Know Much About’ Geography, Don’t Know Much About’ the Civil War, and Don’t Know Much About’ the Bible, comes a lively presentation of the phenomenal bestseller that has brought American history to life for hundreds of thousands of readers.
From the first settlements of the continent through Vietnam, Watergate, and Reagan, Davis takes listeners on a rollicking ride through 600 years of Americana. With wit, candor, and fascinating facts, Don’t Know Much About’ History explodes long-held myths and misconceptions-revealing the very human side of history that the textbooks neglect.
In this entertaining presentation, you’ll meet the personalities who helped shape our nation and hear the words and wisdom that have endured through the centuries. From the French and Indian War to Vietnam, from George Washington to George Bush, here is the story of how we got to where we are today-and the questions that have plagued most of us since grade school are more interesting than ever before.
Amazon.com Review
Finally, someone who tells history like it was, without the old textbook gloss that’s put so many students into premature naptime and misinformed the few who stayed awake. Davis corrects the myths and misconceptions from Columbus up through the Clinton administration, and shows that truth is more entertaining than propaganda.
Don’t Know Much About History
Tagged with: About • Don't • History • Know • Much
Filed under: Book
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Little known facts about the Presidency:
Prior to the evolution of a clear two-party system and separate election of the President and the Vice-President, there were often three or four contenders for the presidency, often from the same party. The most famous instance of this came in 1800. Jefferson, who was unofficially his party’s candidate for President, and Burr, both Democratic-Republicans, tied with 73 electoral votes. The two opposing Federalist candidates, John Adams and Charles C. Pinckney trailed with 65 and 64 respectively. The election was decided in the House of Representatives in the so-called Revolution of 1800.
In the 1824 election, there were four legitimate candidates for the presidency: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and William H. Crawford. Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes, but lacked the majority of electoral votes needed. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives, which went for Jon=hn Quincy Adams when Clay as powerful House leader, threw his support to the New Englander in the so-called Corrupt Bargain. At least, it wasn’t decided by a biased Supreme Court Judge, as in the Gore/Bush fiasco.
On Harrison’s death of pneumonia a few months after his inauguration, Tyler became the first Vice-President to succeed to the office due to the death of a sitting President. Tyler kept Harrison’s Cabinet, but named no new Vice-President. There was no constitutional provision for replacing a Vice-President until ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967.
Abraham Lincoln failed in business 1831 and again in 1833. In the meantime, he ran for state legislator and lost. His sweetheart died in 1835, and he had a nervous breakdown the next year. He lost the nomination to Congress in 1843, was defeated again for Congress in 1848 and 1855 and lost the vice presidency of the United States in 1856. Then he ran for Senator in 1858 and lost. In 1860 Abe Lincoln was elected president of the United States. The rest is history.
In the election of 1888, Cleveland won the popular vote with 448.6 percent of the votes cast, but lost the election in the electoral college, where Harrison won 233-168. They tried to claim that with Bush, but he was given the election by another Republican.
In 1960 (when Jeff and John, Jr. were born), John F. Kennedy beat Nixon by the slimmest of margins (except for Gore’s non-”win” against Bush), 118,574 vote difference.
After Nixon’s V.P had to resign because of tax fraud when he had been the former governor of Maryland, Ford was chosen as Vice-President. Ford succeeded Nixon following his resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Nelson Rockefeller of New York was appointed V.P. by Ford under the 25th Amendment.
Rating: 3 / 5
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one to notice the anti-White preaching in this book. Not what I expected at all because this is how History is taught today and this is supposed to be an answer to that. I was expecting to learn a lot more – most of the things mentioned I already knew. I graduated from high school in ‘89 and then got a Bachelor’s degree from a state college that wasn’t in History. Perhaps this book would be useful to those who have less education.
Rating: 2 / 5
This is the liberal view of history. (They never see anything good.)
This is the whole book.
We hurt the Indians.
We hurt blacks.
We hurt the Viet Cong.
Conservatives are bad.
Rating: 1 / 5
Davis’s treatment repeatedly tells us how boring other histories are until we are bored with the repetition. Then he gives us the thinnest liberal telling. White men were all bad, indians were good. Women were brave. Conservatives are anti-semites. Republicans are bad and pro business. Anti-communism was silly. And all history is filtered through the vietnam protestor’s filter. Mr. Davis is boring and totally predictable and has sacrificed accuracy for liberal orthodoxy. This is offensive when it neglects Margaret Sanger’s racism, and communist depredations.
Rating: 2 / 5
Mr. Davis’ Don’t Know Much About books are fun to read and enlightening, however there are not just a few deviations from fact, especially in this book and his Civil War book. I enjoyed reading them but they should not be taken for the “end all – be all”. Some further research is advised.
Rating: 3 / 5