Being as I am currently studying history, I thought my first review back should be a history book. I was a little shocked to find this book was so short, especially considering the author claims you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about the major points of American history. I didn’t believe this would be possible in 39 pages, and it turns out I was correct. There are major portions of American history not represented in this book, westward expansion being an obvious topic that comes to mind.
The information was jumbled and not well fleshed out. There were also some areas of, at best, misleading information. For instance, he jumps from the discovery of America to British Colonization. This leaves out all Spanish exploration and makes it seem as if Britain was the first nation to take advantage of the new world.
There were also so many grammatical errors it was difficult to focus on the text. Add to that the redundancy, which I found strange in such a short book, and you have a very awkward reading situation.
That being said, I could see this possibly being useful as a primer for elementary students, especially with the pop quizzes at the end of each section. This book could possibly whet the students’ appetites for more information. I just don’t see it useful as a research aid for older readers.
*I received a free copy of this book for my unbiased opinion. The opinions are fully my own.*
Penny Layne Writes 