Erik Sass, with Will Pearson and Mandesh Hattikudur. The Mental Floss History of the United States. New York: Harper, 2010. 448 pages.
Book review Friday is back! Again!
There are plenty of statistics out there that demonstrate just how little most Americans know about their history. This is doubtless a bad thing, and not just for frustrated history teachers: knowing more about the nation’s history should make citizens better judges of its current social, political, and economic state. The folks at magazine/website mental_floss have done their bit for the national discourse by producing a quick single-volume history of the United States.
One of the sections of the mental_floss website offers “cocktail party cheat sheets” and this history is very much in that vein: entertaining, with all of the pertinent information provided in bite-sized pieces. Written in an off-beat style, it’s definitely not boring. Obviously, this isn’t a comprehensive treatment of American history, but it’s a good introduction, or reminder of what you’ve probably forgotten since school.
That said, it’s a pretty fun romp through American history. Maybe at time a bit too fun–the constant snarkiness can get a bit grating, particularly when dealing with complex and tragic events in American life.
The tendency for over-glibness aside, this is a pretty good single-volume history of the United States. It will definitely help you brush up on the major trends, or talk your way through a cocktail party. But if it sparks any curiosity in you about the events it describes, you’re going to need to follow up with something more substantial. If you don’t have a US history text on your shelf, you could do a lot worse than this one.