don't know much...about history
i called dad this morning to wish him a happy father's day. i already gave him his gift last week when i visited my parents. mom and dad are both hard to buy for, but this present was an easy choice since he had already dropped a hint at barnes & noble. the gift? a book entitled "Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need To Know About American History But Never Learned", by kenneth c. davis. i think he'll enjoy it since he's a history professor, though i suspect it will serve more as a quick reference than a serious textbook on which to base class material, or the book he's working on.
i skimmed parts of it over a tall starbucks iced americano the day i bought it. i found it an easy, witty read... goodness, i'd take that book any day over the dull book we used in my high school. 11th grade AP/honors U.S. history class with mr. hale? B-O-R-I-N-G! (but an easy "A", so no complaints from me). looking back, it was an undergraduate history class i took in the fall of 1992, called "america to 1865", that captivated me. that class truly engaged me and taught me to think more critically about history.
i have so much disdain for the emphasis on rote memorization of names and dates that so many public K-12 schools rely on in their history and literature curricula. of course knowing facts is important and basic. but the emphasis on only knowing names/dates/places is often at the expense of kids understanding important contexts and issues associated with an historical event. so what if you know the u.s. civil war started at sumter, SC in 1862, and ended in 1865. do you actually know the issues at the heart of the war? that type of teaching simply doesn't do students justice. unfortunately, it is an easy way out for many K-12 teachers.
anyway, {sorry about my little diatribe}, getting back back to the book i got dad: several Amazon customer reviews for this book claim the author (kenneth davis) has a strong left-leaning bias. (no comment). anyway, i think/hope dad likes the book. to make him extra happy, i also made him a cherry cobbler from scratch for his early father's day celebration. if i may say so, it was, indeed, quite good. it's super-easy to make, and the plan is to make another one soon--perhaps over july the 4th. at some point, if i'm ever so inclined, i may post the recipe. it's simple to make, and can easily be adapted by using other fruit or berries. and it's excellent with vanilla ice cream.
