Easy Guide to American History

by SparkNotes (Editor)

The all-in-one American history book! If you've ever found yourself lost or bored in history class, then Easy Guide to American History is the book for you. In this comprehensive review, you'll get a thorough summary of the most important events in American history, as well as a look at all the central figures and events that make up the nation's colorful story. In Easy Guide to American History, you'll find: Short, event-filled chapter Smart and to-the-point writing Timelines of major events Sharp analysis of historical and cultural trends

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

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Reviews

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am wanting to be better educated about our history so this book appealed to me. It is just a series of facts in chronological order starting with pre-Columbian period to 1700 and ending in 2013. It was good for me to read the entire book and remind myself of events that shaped the America we live in today. This was more like a text book rather than commentary or written like a story, so hard to rate it, but I am glad to have read it and want to continue to increase my knowledge our history. I also want to because my daughter wants to be a history teacher.

[Darrell Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is okay at giving the surface level "who dunnit and when did they do it" history, which it was designed to do. It was fine up to the second world war. After that, it was partisan, biased trash - deep into the left-wing propaganda. In fact, it was practically unreadable once you got past WWII. It was full of errors, as well. The mysteriously unnamed authors (they list contributors at the end - but I wouldn't put my name of this book, either) even posited on p. 379 that in the 2000 election "Gore had in fact received more votes in Florida than Bush." What can you do with such a whopper as that? Bush won Florida by 537 votes. Anyway, I gave this book 3 stars (really 2.5) because the first 15 chapters were a good-enough synopsis of what happened in US history. Don't waste your brain cells going further, though...

[Chris Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been looking for essentially a US history textbook I could read through as an adult, and this did not disappoint. Naturally with so much going on, the book doesn’t dive in too deep to any one event, but it does give a great starting point for future areas of study.

It is written in a very factual voice, with no clear partisan angle which was refreshing.

It was only soften up until Obama’a second term, around the time of Edward Snowden’s leak. I’d love to have an update written in this style up to the present moment in time (November, 2025).

Definitely recommended if you want a refresher on (or to quickly learn) American history.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still have this from when it helped me score a 5 on the APUSH exam and went back to reread it last week — a nice refresher and while it oversimplifies quite a bit, it’s easy to read, covers more than you’d expect, and is well organized

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always curious as to how biased these sorts of books are...in this case, there was some erroneous information, such as stating that the Shakers have dissolved their order.