Can anyone recommend a basic history text book??

Question

When I was in high school, I failed every history course I took, because I basically didn't care. I managed to get my B.A. degree without ever taking a history course. Now I regret this and would like to study this on my own; however, my base knowledge is severly lacking. I need a history text book written toward the freshman in high school demographic. Can anyone recommend one? It can be an older edition, I have paid attenetion to the news and the world for the past six years. Thanks!

Answer 1

Before seeing your additional comments, I was going to write that you needed to start at the beginning and travel through history.  Picking up monographs can come later.

Insofar as World History is concerned, I think that the best (though also about the longest) is a 12 volume series of books written by Will and Ariel Durant entitled THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION.  Each volume is about 600 or so pages long.  Though that might seem like a tedious task, it reads very well and is one of the most concise histories that I have read.  It will take you from archaeology of prehistory to the Age of Napoleon and from there you can find other materials to read.  

American History presents problems because I have yet to read a US history book that is not plagued by prejudice based on politics.  All of them have left out major things in the course of American History for the want of space and for "trends."  Any good introduction to US history will be OK, but don't limit yourself to those - branch out when a subject interests you and dig further.  

I would look for editions published in the 70s or so because they have written the later books down so much that they do not have that much data.  Any used book store will be replete with old US history texts, or you can go to www.abebooks.com and search them out. I would recommend that you look at the two volume set that was written by the authors Current, Williams, and Friedel(?)

There are less intense books available for a light overview.  I have an old set on Western Civ (2 volumes) by the authors Burns and Ralph which I think is good.

I am an old goat these days and I have studied history since I was about 12.  My university major is in History and I read it constantly every day.  My particular interest is Medieval/Renaissance/Reformation, but interestingly, I am published only on a paper on the Barbary Wars of the Jefferson Administration.  

Answer 2

You remind me of the way I was in high school.  

After a B.A. degree and a successful career, I am taking my first college class (American History) since 1991.  The book is fantastic and VERY VERY easy to understand.

Give Me Liberty!  An American History

Second Edition, Volume 1

By Eric Foner  

ISBN:  978-0-393-93027-6

Answer 3

well it depends on what you want to learn about.  i suggest that you look up books with primary documents, and preferably some kind of explanation.  if it doesn't have an explanation find a book that coincides with the topic.  

may i suggest The Civil War and Reconstruction by Gienapp as a primary source and ordeal by fire as an explanation.

Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950’s and 1960’s edited by David Howard-Pitney as a primary and i'm not sure for an overview.  

Major Problems in the Gilded age and the progressive era is a good combination of primary with a little bit of introduction.  i cant remember who makes this, but they make others the same way for different time periods.

but whatevery you do read i suggest you also read primary documents from that time period just because historians tend to have their own view on things and sometimes let it sway their opinion on how they write.  primary documents let you decide for yourself.

another suggestion is to go to your universities website and look up history classes in the bookstore and see what books are being given.  hope this helps.

Answer 4

The best history book ever written about the Holy Land is "Islam and the Problem of Israel" by Ismail Al-Faruqi. So true that the poor author and his entire family was murdered - hacked to death in their own home. He is one of the best historians that has ever lived. The book is extremely sensitive to Jews, Christians and Muslims.