John A. Garraty's "1,001 Things Everybody Show Know About American History" is an interesting combination of strengths and weaknesses. Each of the eight parts is arranged chronologically, which is useful to both teachers and students who are using this as a supplemental reference book in a history class. What is arguably the strongest section, dealing with Politics, comes first and offers a nice array of nicknames, slogans, laws, court decisions and other items of political importance. The part on People looks at famous families, but wisely expands the idea from political families such as the Adams and the Roosevelts to include anybody of note named Johnson, Jones or Smith. The sub-section of "Famous Indiscretions" is interesting, especially when it tosses in harry Truman's letter to music Critic Paul Hume along with the Fugitive Slave Act and Watergate.

The "weakest" section is on Presidents, which consists entirely of quotations about each man, and not always flattering ones; Jefferson, Franklin and Hamilton have trouble finding anything nice to say about John Adams, for example. If you want to find out anything more substantial about any of the Presidents you need to go to the index to see where such things are scattered throughout the book. The quotes are certainly interesting and may even be of use in a history paper, but one of the "1001 Things Everybody Should Know About American History" is not that Roscoe Conkling through the Arthur Administration was not heroic. However, I have to admit that biographical capsules of all the Presidents are readily available elsewhere and these quotes are certainly different way of approaching this topic.

The section on Military Matters provides some nice, concise summations of various battles and rebellions as does the final section on Matters Economic and Otherwise in terms of anonymous inventors, strikes and fiascos. On balance, one of these things that speaks well for Garraty's book is how it balances the good and the bad. What "Everybody Should Know About American History" covers the entire spectrum and no matter how much you already know, or think you know, you will learn a thing or too. Yes, the title is pure hyperbole, but given the increasingly narrow focus on most high school history textbooks this is an excellent supplemental text that gives teachers some concise, pertinent facts to throw into each and every unit throughout the year.

"1001 Things Everyone Should Know about American HIstory" is a quick, breezy reference work that covers such diverse topics as famous families, famous and significant Americans, key military events, important legislation, and notable sppeches. At roughly 200 pages, this book contains a wide range of American history that will be especially valuable to high school and college students. Even if you're a regular reader of American history, you'll find this book is a quick and easy-to use source for answers to to recurring questions about the American saga. It's much easier to consult this book's summary of great American speeches than spend hours as the library looking for the comparisons and contrasts between Lincoln's "House Divided" speech and his "Gettysburg Address." The book also contains an abundance of contemporary sketches and photographs. Highly recommended.

Covers an amazing amount of material from the time the earth first started coallescing from space dust all the way through to the 1970's (the edition I have was published then, I'm not sure if it's been updated). The structure is perfect for categorizing political and cultural events to capture the essence of what was happening at a given point in time. It's designed to jump in and out of chapters (very good index, chapter headings, timlines, short sections). Each chapter is written by experts on that time, so you get the sense that you're always hearing from an expert, although each chapter "reads" a little differently.

I've been taking it with me traveling for the last 15 years to Japan, Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany. It's a great way to read about what was happening as I've travelled to historical sites.

This book is a very readable, and very unbias look at American History. It presents its subject without overflowing detail, and is very useful in the teaching of American History. A great AP History Text Book, that is also good for the novice historian.

This is a survival guide for any student who is struggling for an understanding of American History. Not only does this book provide insight into the facts of our country, but also gives commentarys and analysis. This is a stand alone reference guide which should be among everyone's collection.

This book does something not terribly original, but still intruiging. It presents detailed social, historical and personal context for various constitutional disputes, most of which appear to have far exceeded their ostensibly limited origin and scope. Hence, seemingly minor tiffs have resulted in sharp changes in direction in Constitutional Law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, in a manner which may well violate the spirit of the Constitution as originally drafted by the founding fathers.

This series of essays will serve as an elementary introduction to rulings of the United States Supreme Court. The essays are more descriptive than analytic, so anyone interested in one of the few landmarks herein would do well to use this volume only as the start of research. Some essays are somewhat critical, but most are more about context than about correction. The landmark cases are "humanized" in a way that should interest laypersons who want to learn more (but not a lot more!) about their constitutional history.

This book is packed with knowledge. American Nation is great for the classroom environment. This book has great stories under "American Lives," which talk about great Americans. Some of which are George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams to name a few. There are many colorful and well-illustrated pictures. This book explains in depth the great events of the United States up until 1877. Pay attention though because this book jumps around with the dates on the different subject areas, but that is so the same subject is covered in one section. This is a fantastic book for a College course. John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes have done their homework and have put forth one of the best Social Science books I have ever seen.

If you want to know about everything about the beginning of America, this is definitely the book for you! Great for school American history classes.

Garraty's book The American Nation was informative and interesting. It provided information needed to help the student's in my AP History class. Granted, it was not perfect and was confusing at times, but all in all, it provided a good, detailed description of our history. Here are the pros and cons of Garraty's book. PROS: 1). Garraty is knowledgeable in his assessment of history 2). The book is very helpful with its timelines at the end of each chapter 3). Garraty explains the gist of every major event and sometimes non-major event 4). It's the only book where our class actually worshipped :) 5). IT WILL BE HELPFUL FOR AP HISTORY AND THE NATIONAL EXAM. I (personally) felt confident with the outcome of my exam, but that could also be due in part to my teacher who really complemented with Garraty. 6). It could be a GREAT paperweight! CONS: 1). It's not a good book to keep in your backpack all day long 2). Sometimes Garraty likes to force his opinions on certain historical figures ( he likes Hamilton, but not Jefferson) 3). There ARE events he doesn't cover that many might think was important or he might undercover events that many might think was important.

That's about it for the pros and cons, but remember these are just my opinions! Hope they helped! Good luck in AP History or whatever you're doing in regards to this book!!

This text is absolutely unsurpassed in terms of clarity, conciseness and general usefulness. I first used Garraty's book in 8th grade, then again as a supplement to some other texts in a U.S. A.P. class in high school (I got a 5 on the test, which I am confident is owed entirely to Garraty) and still use it for general reference in college. In a little over 1000 pages, Garraty covers just about every major event in United States history in interesting and extremely clear prose. I have yet to find any book that communicates such an enormous amount of information in such a small amount of space with such an enormous degree of clarity. I promise that this book will not only improve your understanding of U.S. history, but will also serve as a lifelong reference source.

Kudos to Garraty for his newest edition. I was a student in AP US History and thoroughly enjoyed the book. I received a 5 on the AP exam (highest possible score ranked 1-5). I wholeheartedly recommend the text to anyone serious about succeeding in AP US History or if you just want to refresh your knowledge of US History. Within the American Nation, you will find all sorts of ancedotes told by a preeminent raconteur. If you can not remember the "Sumner-Brooks" affair, you will enjoy reading Garraty's skilled account of that affair to remember.