259 pages
"History is about so much more than memorizing facts. It is, as more than half of the word suggests, about the story. And, told in the right way, it is the greatest one ever written: Good and evil, triumph and tragedy, despicable acts of barbarism and courageous acts of heroism.
The things you've never learned about our past will shock you. The reason why gun control is so important to government elites can be found in a story about Athens that no one dares teach. Not the city in ancient Greece, but the one in 1946 Tennessee. The power of an individual who trusts his gut can be found in the story of the man who stopped the twentieth hijacker from being part of 9/11. And a lesson on what happens when an all-powerful president is in need of positive headlines is revealed in a story about eight saboteurs who invaded America during World War II." -Dust Jacket
One of the things that makes me the saddest about my kids' school experience is that they are not learning to love history. Frankly, they don't even remember anything they've been taught. They get a packet and do it and regurgitate it on the test but it doesn't stay with them. Their textbooks are skewed to the liberal left, where FDR gets a chapter, Abraham Lincoln gets a paragraph and nothing is said about Benjamin Franklin. I loved my AP U.S. History class. The teacher was engaging and I learned so much. I hate that school kids are being taught that America is not a great country, that capitalism is bad and that we have raped and pillaged the world. Lately I've been trying to instill in my kids a love for our country and the idea that they can, and should, be proud to be an American. I love what Bono said about America--"that America has constantly been on the side of what's right, that America is an idea and that the world sees us as one of the greatest ideas in history--the idea that you and me are created equal, that life is not meant to be endured by enjoyed...This country was the first to claw its way out of darkness and put that on paper. These aren't just American ideas anymore. The world has a bit of America in it. These truths, they're self-evident in us."
Recently my kids and I watched "America: Imagine a World Without Her" by Dinesh D'Souza. I liked how he showed the accusations against America and then refuted them. I think kids now days hear the negative things about America and I really want to make sure that my girls know that while our country isn't perfect, it's still the best country in the world and we need to do our part to make sure it stays great.
I know that history depends on who's telling it and the same event can be told in many different ways. I know that Glenn Beck can be polarizing, but he loves America and worries about our country. He cites all of his sources in the back and I find that he usually does his research. I learned so much in this book--stories I'd never heard like the description implies. Again, I liked how it was a balance of good and bad. If we don't learn from the bad then we're likely to repeat it and the good can inspire us to be brave. This book contains stories about Jack Jouett, Shays' Rebellion, The Virginia Convention, The Barbary War, Edison vs. Westinghouse, The Battle of Wounded Knee, Easy Eddie, The Saboteurs, Tokyo Rose, The Battle of Athens, The My Lai Massacre, and the missing 9/11 terrorist. The best part of this book for me was that it made me want to read other books about these events and learn more. I like that each story isn't too long and that it's written in a way that captures your attention. I think these stories will be great for me to read with my kids this summer and talk about.
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