CliffsQuickReview U.S. History I (Cliffs Quick Review) (Bk.1),   ISBN:B001O9CDTM

Customer Rating: 

This book actually accomplishes what those books with titles such as "History for Dummies" or the "The Idiots' Guide to History" try to do.

It is a short, concise history of the U.S. to 1877. The authors have doctorates and the writing is up to date on scholarship. They keep it short by leaving out the adjectives. Instead of "the blinding sun glistened off the helmets of the conquistadores" they write something like "the Spanish explored the Southwest."

It is designed for college students who don't want to read the monster U.S. history book their college teachers have assigned. It is thus lacking some of the features that you might otherwise expect: there is no index, no chapter numbers, no maps, no pictures.

Unlike the other books I mentioned above, there is no attempt to be cute. It is written in short, clear, easy to understand sentences.