Comments

1. Right Wingnut Said,

   Look people, there is one reason why America is ahead of everyone else, and it’s that we had the benefit of three hundred years of free labor — slavery. The only way to put such a blight on the history of this country into perspective is to admit its ugliness, and the fact that that ugliness is woven into the fabric of our greedy American selves.

   You can white wash the history of this country all you want, but the truth is that our “values” are not particularly lofty, nor have they every been. We’re greedy, self-absorbed sadists, and THIS BOOK PROVES IT.

   Rating: 1 / 5

2. E. Copeland Said,

   Kindle Edition is priced too high. Looks interesting but I am not interested at a pricepoint above $9.99 for the Kindle Edition.
   Rating: 1 / 5

3. S. Collier Said,

   One only needs to read the back cover of this book to see what its contents attempt to do: Gloss over American society’s institutionalized attempt to deny “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to anyone who is not white, protestant and male.

   Slavery, keeping women from voting, the forced migration and placement of Native Americans, are all denials of the concept of civil rights. A concept that is explicitly described and promoted in this country’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence.

   These horrendous acts, often enabled and facilitated by the government, are well documented at the time of their occurrences. One need not go further than reading the prominent authors of those times (Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Eastmen, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to understand their real and tangible effects. Hell, just read the laws of those periods to see what Mr. Schweikart and Mr. Allen like to deny or casually refer to as “flaws” and “shortcomings”. The forced enslavement of one ethnicity and codified genocidal practices against another are grotesquely ingrained in our past and should be remembered, taught and discussed to ensure they never happen again.

   For Mr. Schweikart and Mr. Allen to call themselves professors of history and deny the existence of history is an insult. I pity the very students that fall under the tutelage of such teachers that do nothing but promote a political agenda of American exceptionalism born out of delusions of religious grandeur.
   
   Rating: 1 / 5

4. The Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth Said,

   This book was…how to put it? Representative of every reason why the rest of the world hates America. The previous reviewer said this book is for grown-ups…Fox News viewers,in their fantasy world, perhaps, but grown-ups? Grown-ups accept responsibility for reality. Grown ups avoid a fantasy world. Grown ups examine their mistakes so as not to repeat them. It not only denies some of the saddest episodes in American History , but it leaves out important people and issues. Schweikart may think that one half of one paragraph and one mention each of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are sufficient to mark their contribution to American History, however, 51% of the population begs to differ–if it weren’t for them, women STILL would not be voting. This book could be called “American History for Simpletons.”
   
   The previous reviewer’s description of Zinn’s book as an “unbook” revealed a lot to me about the mindset of the readers of this book. Therefore, I will use their language in order to get the message across to them about how despicable this book really is. A Patriot’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart is double plus ungood.
   
   This book is good for one thing…FLUSH!
   Rating: 1 / 5

5. E. Graham Said,

   As students of history and journalism, this book strikes many of us as just another attempt by the so-called “Right” to recast history to suit the author’s Fox-esque biases. The premise is good. The final product — disappointing.

   Rating: 1 / 5