The Intellectual Devotional: American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation's Past

by David S. Kidder, Noah D. Oppenheim

Modeled after those bedside books of prayer and contemplation that millions turn to for daily spiritual guidance and growth, the national bestseller The Intellectual Devotional—offering secular wisdom and cerebral nourishment—drew a year's worth of readings from seven different fields of knowledge. In The Intellectual American History, authors David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim have turned to the rich legacy of American history for their selections. From Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King Jr., from the Federalist Papers to Watergate, the giant figures, cultural touchstones, and pivotal events in our national heritage provide a bountiful source of reflection and education that will refresh knowledge, revitalize the mind, and open new horizons of intellectual discovery.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Reference, Trivia, Education, Devotional

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2007

About the author

Born in Upstate New York, David S. Kidder is a serial entrepreneur with a wide range of operational, technology, and marketing expertise focused on online product development and Internet advertising and marketing. He is currently co-Founder and serves as CEO of Clickable, an online advertising web service. Prior to Clickable, Kidder co-founded SmartRay Network, a mobile advertising delivery pioneer acquired by LifeMinders. Prior to SmartRay, he founded Net-X which was acquired by TargetVision. Kidder and his companies have appeared in publications and periodicals such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fast Company, and TechCrunch, among others.

Kidder is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and was a recipient of ID Magazine's International Design Award. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short one-page history information in 5 different fields of knowledge. Easy to read one or two a day. I really enjoyed reading these history snippets especially those in the past 50 years, making me realize I lived through many historical events. If you want a refresher of history in an accessible way, try this book. Note: it has a liberal bias.

[David Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among students in the United States, American History is often the worst tested subject because it is taught in typically a dry way forcing people to remember facts and dates without storytelling.

People remember history and its lessons by consistent reading and understanding. I had never read such a well-written daily book on American History until now. It is a fantastic gift and perfect for starting out your year the right way.

[Heidi Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A daily intellectual devotional is such a cool concept, and I did learn a lot of things from this book. I gave it three stars just because of the occasional typo (like the wrong date in November for Kennedy’s assassination—which I only noticed because I have read Stephen King’s excellent novel 11/22/63.) It took me forever to read this book because I neglected to make it a daily habit. I would like to read another one of these books—but would make sure it was an up-to-date version. This one was published in 2007, so Michael Jackson wasn’t dead yet on his page, etc. One main thing some of the entries got me thinking about: Where are the politicians today who will fight for just laws, even if it costs them votes? I learned from this book that Lyndon B. Johnson knew that Democrats would "lose the South for a generation" when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964–but he did the right thing anyway.

[Jo-Ann Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea of learning some basics about our history. It is easy to read one page a day. Unfortunately, there seem to be many factual errors. So while I think you still learn a lot about the basic topic of the page, you cannot memorize the details as facts. So, as a general overview, I highly recommend it, but know that you will only become familiar with the person or event, not necessarily learn the exact years or context.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

About a year ago, I started reading a daily entry from this book which is organized by topics:
Monday--Politics & Leadership; Tuesday--War & Peace; Wednesday--Rights & Reform; Thursday--Business; Friday--Building America; Saturday--Literature; Sunday--Arts.
It was a quick and easy way to expand my general knowledge in subject areas that I don’t often explore. Some days I would seek further information or look at photos and paintings by going to Wikipedia. A number of times I added a book or two to my library or my Amazon wish list as a result of a mention in the day's entry.
Overall, I have enjoyed my experience, however, a couple of times I have recognized or suspected inaccuracies in the information, so I learned to check out a few entries that I was skeptical about. Many reviewers complain about the small print in the hardback edition and I agree wholeheartedly.

[cauldronofevil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this fascinating book (and one other of the series) and it immediately struck my fancy.

Each day a page of information is given to be read. This one on American History. Just a bite-sized chunk but interesting. Of course, this will take a year to read, but that’s okay. It’s an awesome idea and I immediately sought out the other three volumes.

Although taken for granted now, the principle of judicial review was highly controversial at the time. Thomas Jefferson, for one, though it gave the court too much power.

There were many facts that I did not know, but I have to admit that there was a map of the United States made entirely of pickles was impressive.

”Give me enough Swedes and whiskey and I’ll build a railroad to hell.”

After its publication, Friedan would go on to help found the National Organization for Women (NOW, established in 1966) and several other feminist groups, lobbying against gender discrimination, unequal pay in the workplace, and restrictions on abortion.

Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex.
…the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. The permanent defense establishment needed intentional tension to continue turning profits, he said, regardless of whether conflict was actually in the national interest.

Very interesting, especially paired with Rachel Maddow’s excellent “Drift”.

In essence, opponents of the war argued that it was an unnecessary and immoral intrusion into the affairs of another country.

Thank god we’ve learned our lesson since then!

The killer computer in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, for instance, was named HAL—H-A-L immediately preceding the letters I-B-M in the alphabet.

For what it’s worth, today is January 1st, 2025. I am on page 347 so I’ve fallen behind somehow. No big deal, but I thought I was closer than I am to page 365.

”When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.”

And then Jackson started getting weird.

In a reprise of the American response to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the United States declined many foreign offers of assistance—including medical assistance offered from nearby communist China.

Well, that was both rewarding and a slog. I mean it would have been deadly dull, but at a half a page a day it was often fascinating and I did indeed learn a-lot.

Today is January 14th and while the iPhone says I started this book on January 17th, so I kept a pretty tight schedule and am glad for it.

If you’re like me and hate people who talk out of their ass about stuff without knowing anything about it, this will give you a good overview of important parts of American History.

I’ll give this book a strong 4 stars for the writing, the format of the book and the basic idea. I’ll start the others as well. Not quite right away, but soon.

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very accessible history of the United States from when the first colonists arrived through the 1980s (with a few references to events up to the book's publication in 2007). Some of the information was a review and some of it was new, and it was almost always interestingly presented. The short articles were just enough for an overview of the topics. Some topics were covered in multiple entries, but some, especially towards the end, were somewhat superficial. For a book like this, however, brevity trumps detail. I'm not versed in history to know how accurate the entries are, but for what I knew from school, they seemed pretty good, without obvious biases. The only time I detected real bias was with the way the male reader used a sarcastic tone for the entry on Michael Jackson. Otherwise, the two readers, alternating male and female, kept their voices calm and conversational. It was an easy book to listen to. The organization of the book sometimes meant that the overall history was not strictly linear in time, but I didn't find the time jumps back and forth confusing, as the topics were generally in a logical order.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Intellectual Devotional: American History was our favorite book in the Intellectual Devotional series by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim. The reading took a little over a year, beginning in September 2016 and ending in November 2017. My husband and I have read the entire series together, a page or two at a time. While not entirely accurate, the American History devotional gave us a lot to talk about. It put much of the political trauma of 2016-17 into perspective. Reading through the devotional, it’s apparent that our country has had some pretty bad leaders and a lot of political turmoil in the past. Since it was written in 2007, the book is not entirely up to date. Despite that, we found the book to be a great shared reading that led to some very interesting discussions. I’d definitely recommend the entire Intellectual Devotional series, particularly for shared reading experiences.

[Randy Elster · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are used to Christian or “religious” devotional books, this is not one of those. It is a daily reading to beef up your understanding of American history. Readings rotate through 7 fields (one for each day of the week): Politics & Leadership, War & Peace, Rights & Reform, Business, Building America, Literature, and Arts. Each day is a one-page quick read. I found this a fun addition to my daily reading. The book, published in 2007, is one of a series; the original volume broadly taught on general knowledge, and subsequent volumes focused down on topics like biographies, health, and modern culture.

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great format. This one (of the series) focuses on American History and has a very interesting 2-3 page essay on people, places, things that helped to form the history of America.

I learned a lot that I did not know in the course of my reading every day and plan to finish out the series of books over the next few years.

The only shortcoming (easily adjusted to) is that they were written in the mid-2000s (the decade, not the millennium) so when they deal with more contemporary topics they are not particularly, well, contemporary.

An excellent series, though, and highly recommended.

[Jake London · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, not great. Granted, a devotional is difficult to produce, since it needs both well-chosen and well-edited entries. While Kidder chose his topics wisely, the editing and content of each reading varies widely from outstanding to afterthought. Overall, something light to read each night before bed.

[Pete Iseppi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought, one page a day, that's doable before nodding off. Well, it's hard to put this book down if you're a history buff. Many entries you will know all about. Some entries you have heard about, but forgotten. Some entries will be new to you.
This is an excellent book that you can read over the long haul, or in big bunches. Highly recommended!

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great brake down into the USA. I'm sure alot of this information is coming from main stream sources but overall didnt seem bias, provided a foundational understanding to to early settlers, the the tabbaco economic boom to social political wars to the preseodents to some of the faces that shaped America in many ways. Definitely will be keeping on shelf

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't say there was anything new or mind blowing in this book. I don't know who the target audience of this book should be. I guess someone who doesn't have a basic understanding of American history or wasn't raised in America.

I learned relatively little about America's past and some of its famous citizens while spending the past year reading this book.

[Alina the Goblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad's cousin Bob, a former prep school professor, gifted this devotional to me almost 20 years ago. Finally took me until this year to consistently read a page a day, but I damn well did it! Lovely way to start the day, with a page of reading. I got a bit lost in all of the philosophers, they kinda melded together. Otherwise, found it all insightful and perfectly digestible.

[Jaime Jean meneses · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read all three history volumes of The Intellectual Devotional. It's a great concept and a fun read. First published in 2007, an updated edition of the American History book is long overdue. Could be enriched with Further Reading bibliography.

[Charlie Schlangen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read. Fun, usefully informative, and quirkily erudite with mainstream humor. If you can make it through the book without skipping ahead (think Advent calendars), you’re a better man than I am.

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tidbits of American history every night is nice. However, most of the passages left my brain as quickly as they entered.

[J H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that covers a large range of American figures and events; the best part, this book does not skirt away from the darker sides of America’s past.

[Dan Mcginn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only took me an extra year... not bad! 😝

[Sharon Zink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each entry is a short synopsis of various subjects from The Simpsons to Ronald Reagan. Readable, informative.

[Ian White · Rating 5 out of 5]

365 days of entries finished in 5 months, EZ

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting and fun read with different topics on US History. Im still reading it. It's the type of book you read a snipett or two a day.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who needs history class, this audio book is US History Tour De Force. It covers it all, from the discovery of the new world to the TV show "The Simpson's."

Mexican - American War: Abraham Lincoln and John Quincy Adams were the only 2 people to vote against the war. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses Grant fought in this war. The US originally offered Mexico $30 million for just Texas (I think or maybe it was California), but Mexico said "no." So the war happen, and US ended up with California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Mexico did get paid, but only $15 million and after US Army seized Mexico City.

Henry Ford best known in history for launching the car industry, but what you do not hear in history class was his views. He was anti-Semitic, and so much so, that he would send pamphlets to the dealerships distributing anti-Semitic literature. In addition, he purchased a newspaper which published more anti-Semitic literature. Also, Ford received medal from the Nazi's.

Did you know that Cary Grant real name is Archibald Alec Leach and that he is from England.

John F. Kennedy. Do you know that he beat Richard Nixon to become President? As President, he took on the Mafia (w/Bobby Kennedy), authorized CIA to kill Castro, started the Vietnam War to stop communisms, and started the space program to put man on the moon.

Las Vegas Gambling was started by the mafia. A gangster from LA, took some money to Las Vegas and opens a Casino. At the start the Casino was actually losing money, so the mafia had him fired... literally.

The Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson just wanted to purchase New Orleans, but because of France War with England, France sold him all their territory to help fund their war.

I was fascinated to learn that Webster Dictionary was written in the US, and the author is responsible for some of the differences between US English and British English. Example, British spelling of "Colour" and the US spelling "Color".

Benedict Arnold was a General in the US Army, and was responsible for the key victory at Saratoga. However, what is more interesting is that he has monument in his honor for that battle, but because of him becoming a traitor (trying to give WestPoint to the British), the monument makes no mention of his name.

The Simpson’s was first started as short sketches in 1987.

There is just so much info in this Audio Book!

[Kayce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun (and random) selection for me, I checked this book out at the library to learn some trivia about American history. Many of the topics were familiar to me, but there were fun facts and interesting tidbits compiled in this book. This is designed like a daily devotional, with 365 entries so you have one to read every day of the year. The book even comes with that glossy ribbon place holder (a.k.a. bookmark) that you’ll also find in Bibles.

The Intellectual Devotionals are available in different topics to (as the cover says), “Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently…” Entries from seven fields of knowledge are available on: Health, Modern Culture, Biographies, and the original Intellectual Devotional. On the New York Times Bestseller list, these books are informative, interesting, educational, and well-written.

Here, a few nuggets of information you may (or may not) already have known:

* Thomas Jefferson grew 31 kinds of fruit in his orchards at Monticello, including figs, peaches, cherries, and grapes.
* More than 40 universities operate in the greater Boston area, making it the center of American higher education.
* Benjamin Franklin is the only American who signed all three of the key founding documents of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution, and the Constitution.
* When he agreed to lead the Continental army in 1775, George Washington declined a salary, asking only that Congress reimburse his expenses.
* Although Central Park is probably the most famous park in the United States, it was not the first; that distinction belongs to Boston Common, which opened in roughly 1634.
* A 700-pound monument to barbed wire in McLean, Texas, is composed of two balls of barbed wire.
* During wartime, men who could prove a religious or moral objection to all war, not just the war being fought, could avoid military service by earning classification as a “conscientious objector.”
* When Cornelius Vanderbilt died, his estate, worth more than $100 million, exceeded the holdings of the United States Treasury.

If you are an American history buff, if you need to brush up on your American history, if you enjoy learning facts and trivia, then I’d recommend this book for you. Read one, read them all, the Intellectual Devotional books are valuable resources!

4/5 stars

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stretching across seven different categories, Kidder & Oppenheim have provided a day-by-day journey through our country’s history that sometimes comments on the profound moments of our nation, sometimes the sublime, and sometimes the surreal. More than a day calendar, but less than a full treatise on each topic, this ‘Intellectual Devotional’ has been well worth the yearlong trip. Often, these pieces are written in a scholarly nature, but are most enjoyable when the authors choose to flex a little sense of humor and deviate from pure expositive writing.

In the entry for the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, great care was taken to describe the brilliance and impact of ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, but also contained this fantastic tidbit in the additional facts:

1. Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs (1969-) starred in the 2004 revival of ‘Raisin’. One unkind reviewer wrote that he acted “like a high school sophomore.”

Necessary? – No.
Hilarious? – You betcha. (Take dat, take dat…Puffy)

Perhaps the most unintentionally (or intentionally?) hilarious sentence is contained within the page on Michael Jackson. After enumerating each of the magnificent accomplishments of Jackson’s early career, the authors efficiently divided the epochs of his life with six simple words, “And then Jackson starting getting weird.” Brilliant and quite unexpected in a book that details the greatest of American artists and nearly all the seminal events of our country’s evolution.

[Kate S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read this book correctly; I read big chunks of it over the course of a week instead of one page a day for a year. I found it very interesting. A general overview of American History presented in short one page introductions to important and lesser known characters and events from our past. I will look for other Intellectual Devotionals.

[Travis Hi. · Rating 3 out of 5]

365 one-page entries on important American figures, events, and works of art. On the plus side, it covers a wide variety of subject matter. On the negative side, it covers a wide variety of subject matter--no one but the most omnivorously curious will be interested in everything covered (I skipped a few pages). And the entries covering things I already had an interest in failed to teach me anything new. Also, the editorial bent was strictly "conventional wisdom," which was kind of boring at times and often frustrating for someone like me who thinks Ronald Reagon did way more harm than good (there's only a brief mention of his detracters' opinion of him). That said, I learned a lot--not enough to make me an expert on American history, but enough to follow along the next time someone discusses Mormonism or William Randolph Hearst. This happens all the time, right?

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect way to learn more about American History in small, easy to read and digest portions. Everyday is a new snippet of information that is great for the novice just starting to learn more about the history of the United States, or for the history buff that enjoys a quick snapshot review of topics. The subject matter is divided into seven fields of knowledge:
Politics & Leadership, War & Peace, Rights & Reform, Business, Building America, Literature and Arts. Each day is a different field of knowledge and as the book was published in 2007, it takes you through current events such as Hurricane Katrina from 2005. If you like this series, there are quite a few books in this series, such as modern culture and biographies. An additional recommendation is the magazine "Mental Floss". It is a bi-monthly publication full of interesting lessons and trivia.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

In high school I, like most people, did the minimum amount necessary to pass my history and government classes. Since I've grown older i have learned to love history and find it fascinating to learn about the history of our country. This audio book takes you completely through all of American history from Columbus to now in short three minute topics, one daily for a year.

I found their reporting fairly objective and extremely enlightening. The amount I learned about this country in such a short time was great. With so many different topics it would be hard to comment on all of them but I did develop an appreciation for many of the historical figures I didn't even know or knew little about before this. Some of my new "historical heroes" are to name a few... Dwight d. Eisenhower , Susan B. Anthony, and Robert E Lee.