Monday, July 14, 2008

Nonfiction Monday: King George What Was His Problem

Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution

Sheinkin, Steve. 2008. King George What Was His Problem: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution.

Enjoyable. That is what King George What Was His Problem is. Enjoyable. Fun. Interesting. Informative. Entertaining. Everything a textbook isn't in most cases. The tone of this one is conversational. (Almost reminiscent of Kathleen Krull in my opinion.)

Product description from the publisher's site:

KING GEORGE NEVER DID UNDERSTAND AMERICANS

“Entire books have been written about the causes of the American Revolution. This isn’t one of them.” What it is, instead, is utterly interesting, antedotes (John Hancock fixates on salmon), from the inside out (at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, hundreds of soldiers plunged into battle “naked as they were born”) close-up narrative filled with little-known details, lots of quotes that capture the spirit and voices of the principals (“If need be, I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston” -- George Washington), and action, It’s the story of the birth of our nation, complete with soldiers, spies, salmon sandwiches, and real facts you can’t help but want to tell to everyone you know.

Full of I-didn't-know-that facts, this nonfiction book proved almost unputdownable. It held my interest throughout and was quite simply an enjoyable read. Much more entertaining than I was expecting. But just because it's entertaining doesn't mean the research was lazy. It is well-researched and the bibliography (and source notes) are thorough.



© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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