Bloody History of America: Revolution, Race and War

by Kieron Connolly

'America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.' – Abraham Lincoln

Is the story of the United States that of George Washington, John Adams and Barack Obama? Or of slave rebel Nat Turner, of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King? Or Sitting Bull and Al Capone? Or Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and OJ Simpson? Of course, it is the story of all these, of both civil war and world war, of gold rush and dust bowl, of the Pilgrim Fathers and religious cults, of Prohibition and the Mafia, of the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy-era witch-hunts.

From the Iroquois and early European settlers to the Revolutionary War and Civil War, from slavery to segregation, from the frontier to the Reservations, Bloody History of America is a chronological examination of the United States through politics, labour, big business, crime and culture. Featuring such varied characters as Thomas Jefferson and John Brown, Bugsy Siegel and J P Morgan, Calamity Jane, Chuck Berry and Bonnie & Clyde, it tells the story of the first ‘new nation’, the first major colony to revolt successfully against colonial rule, and how it became the world’s most powerful country.

Extensively researched and illustrated with 180 colour and black-&-white artworks and illustrations, Bloody History of America is a lively and fascinating account of the darker side of the story of the United States.

Genres: American History

224 pages, Hardcover

Published June 14, 2017

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book by Kieron Connolly.

I usually tend to read fantasy, sci-fi, and other fiction to escape, but from time-to-time, I will venture into non-fiction because of an interest of certain subjects. I've always enjoyed the macabre, certain aspects of history, certain historical figures. This book has all of those. It jumps to major life changing events and figures of history that some I didn't know about.

Some of those events are:
-Napoleon was instrumental in negotiation the price of the Louisiana Purchase.
-One of the soldiers fighting under Napoleon that was stationed in Egypt found the Rosetta Stone.
-The Romanticism hype surrounding Bonnie and Clyde was just a byproduct of Hollywood, that there were more heinous offenders of the time.

There are many more aspects that truly shaped the Americas that we know of today.

[Douglas Ogurek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A richly illustrated book that gives an overview of the conflicts that have shaped the story of America. Chapters are named for major eras (e.g., The Civil War, The 1960s) and the subject matter keeps getting more interesting. Man, people do some awful things to each other.

[Katie Holem · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars