King George

July 1, 2008
Sheinkin's entertaining histories cover the Revolutionary and Civil wars. George (originally Storyteller's History: The American Revolution) begins with thirteen ways to start a revolution. Miserable opens with thirteen ways to rip a country apart. Each book includes personal, frequently irreverent, accounts of the participants. The layouts invite browsing: bold subheadings, short exposition, numerous pen-and-ink cartoonlike illustrations, and plenty of maps. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

August 1, 2008
In his amusing opening statement, Confessions of a Textbook Writer, Sheinkin divulges that while writing history textbooks, he stashed away the good stuff, cool stories that he knew would be edited out. Some of them appear in this riveting account that was first published as a paperback called The American Revolution (2005). The new edition features many droll line drawings that suit the tone of the writing and source notes for the extensive quotes. Sheinkin clearly conveys the gravity of events during the Revolutionary period, but he also has the knack of bringing historical people to life and showing what was at stake for them as individuals as well as for the new nation. Often irreverent, the humor and informal tone of the writing help break through the patina of praise that too often encases figures from the American Revolution in books for young people. Vivid storytelling makes this an unusually readable history book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2008
Both of these series entries (Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About...) begin with an apology from the author: "I used to write textbooks. Yes, it's true. I helped write those big books that break your back when you carry them and put you to sleep when you read them." Pledging to mend his ways, Sheinkin offers two personal and entertaining American histories that cover two of our country's wars. King George (originally published in 2005 as Storyteller's History: The American Revolution) begins with thirteen ways to start a revolution, while Two Miserable Presidents (i.e., Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis) opens with thirteen ways to rip a country apart. These numbered, chronological, and easy-to-follow lists are, like the books' audience, not sophisticated in their historiography. Each book covers its war, the Revolution and the Civil War respectively, through personal, and frequently irreverent, accounts of the participants. Sheinkin describes Ethan Allen's assault on Fort Ticonderoga: "One British soldier sat guarding the fort's gates. Or, he was supposed to be guarding the gates. Technically, he was asleep." And here's how Sheinkin introduces General Ambrose Burnside when Lincoln chose him to command the Army of the Potomac: "Burnside protested that he was not the right man for this job. People sometimes say things like this just to sound humble. In this case, Burnside was telling the truth." The layouts for each book invite browsing: bold subheadings, short exposition, numerous pen-and-ink cartoonlike illustrations, and plenty of maps. There's a lot more emphasis on the whats than on the whys, but the strong chronological threads nicely connect the basic facts through a series of lively stories. Appended with brief biographies of the principles, a list of sources, and, in King George, detailed documentation. Indexes unseen. [Review covers these titles: King George: What Was His Problem? and Two Miserable Presidents]

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)