As a proud history geek, I am naturally drawn to events, places and texts about the past. Perhaps it has something to do with growing up in Massachusetts and living in close proximity to many historical sites, some within feet of each other, such as what I wrote about these monuments in the eastern town of Arlington.

When I came upon the book Everything You Need To Ace American History In One Big Fat Notebook when perusing books at a thrift store, I was intrigued. Could such a book live up to its title? Would my own middle-schooler agree? Would I agree? As it was marked at the reasonable price of US$1.99, it was worth the “risk” to find out.

Before passing it along to my kid, I decided to read it first myself to see if it would pass my said standards. As you may have guessed I had some takeaways from it too.

High level, yet not a gloss over – I was impressed with the approach of the book. It covered a wide spectrum of US history, including both positive and negative aspects, such as slavery. The book started in the early 1600’s, including stories of Native Americans, and went through 2016 and the election of Barack Obama.

Shays’ Rebellion covered – Prior to cracking the orange cover of the book, I said to myself, “Self, I will be disappointed if there’s no mention of Shays’ Rebellion. Fortunately that never happened. If you are not familiar with what historians consider the first revolt within the newly formed United States of America – which took place within a few miles from where I grew up – it’s worth exploring.

I forgot a few details of American history, ok a lot of them – What can I say, there’s a lot of nuances to any history, let alone those of the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Written in a colorful style resembling a hand-printed and highlighted ruled notebook, Everything You Need To Ace American History In One Big Fat Notebook is complete with illustrations and maps. Although geared towards kids, it is a good resource for any adult to read and remind themselves of American historical events. It gets my seal of acceptance for a history book. Though I have passed it along to my kid to read, my timing couldn’t be any worse; she has a preference these days to the US History book she is using in her school class that she is getting graded on.

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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