All nations and religions have basic myths. They don't need to be true. They are meant to teach values and unite people. What myths would this author have at the foundation of the United States? It seems to me that a myth of Thanksgiving, unity, and cooperation with people of different cultures is about as good as a foundation myth gets. But his Op-Ed in the New York Times clearly calls us all fools for celebrating our national myth of Thanksgiving rather than celebrating French pilgrims who were wiped out by Spanish savages, and who left absolutely no cultural legacy.

The United States is no longer allowed to enjoy any positive myths. Profit seekers like Mr. Davis want to destroy any positive mental picture, any ideal for which Americans can strive. Please tell us how Santa Clause is a tool of the evil capitalists and how Rover didn't really go to doggy heaven. That would be really useful journalism.

It was okay. Well written. Just never really grabbed me and made me say "Wow."

In this interesting history book, author Kenneth C. Davis tells six "untold" stories from American history. The six stories are: 1) Isabella's Pigs, which discusses Reconquista-era Spain, and the birth of Spanish America; 2) Hannah's Escape, which discusses early colonial America and the relations between the colonists and the Native Americans; 3) Washington's Confession, covering George Washington's early and not-so-glorious military career; 4) Warren's Toga, which discusses the beginning of the American Revolution; 5) Arnold's Boot, the story of that all-American villain, Benedict Arnold; and 6) Lafayette's Sword, which moves past the Revolution to discuss Shay's Rebellion.

Hmm. Even in trying to write the above description, I had to leave out a lot. In fact, this book is rather rambling, as the author moves from event to event, frequently moving off on tangents. The stories have no overarching theme, but were apparently selected at the author's whim.

But, that said, Mr. Davis does tell an interesting story, and quite often I found myself learning something new. So, overall I found this to be a good book, not a great one by any means, but one that I am glad that I read.

This collection is really mini-biographies of different people who made major impacts on early colonial history that most people know nothing about. We learn a little more about George Washington and Paul Revere but also about Joseph Warren and Benedict Arnold, the first settlements in North America (the Spanish and French in Florida) and about the first true dissidents in America.

The story about Anne Hutchinson and her family as they tried to live a non-Puritan life tell us a lot more about the original settlers in New England than you usually read in history books. Specifically that they brooked no dissent and treated the Indians badly.

The story of the first two settlements in Florida is a story I had never seen before. Some French Huegenots had first settled near modern Jacksonville and were doing pretty well until the Spanish decided to settle further south at St.Augustine. Feeling that all of the New World belonged to Spain, the Spanish go and massacre all of the French colonists (mostly because their 'Lutheranos') who are heretic Protestants. Nice to know the Spanish didn't leave the Inquisition behind in Old Spain.

All in all it's very likable, sort of McHistory.

Zeb Kantrowitz

I was disappointed. I am a big fan of the author, having enjoyed a number of his other works - especially "DNMA History" and "DNMA Civil War" and "DNMA Bible" over the years. This work, as other reviewers have noted, is odd. A collection of unrelated stories, disturbingly bloody at times, it is littered with dates and facts that distract from the tale, and the writing is not nearly as clear or engaging as the author's other works. While some of the stories are interesting, I found most to be either already known to me, or no different from hundreds of other interesting and important odd stories relating to America's history.

If you're into history, this book will open your eyes to what the time was like during early America. Very enlightning and interesting.

The book was a very good read & our book club members really enjoyed learning about America's unknown hidden history.

This book is very detailed, and not in a good way. You lose the thread of the story for all of the tiny bits and pieces. It's also very bloody, disturbingly so. I got through the first third and couldn't finish it.

As a non-Amercan and having to teach American History to a group of international students, I found this book just what I needed to get them all interested. I learnt a lot and thouroughly enjoyed the read.

If you enjoy watching out-takes, and behind the scenes incidences of movies and television programs, this is definitely the book for you. Interestingly, the book portrays how many of our history making moments occurred if only by chance, and not without the many challenges that at times could have resulted in an unfavorable outcome. America's Hidden History as the name implies packed with little known facts that elucidate how certain events gradually served to make our country what it is today, is not only an engrossing narrative but also, a pictographic account of our nation's infancy.

Most historical accounts portray an epitome of perfection, every action carefully choreographed to reach the desired results. Not so says Kenneth C. Davis. Not only, do the readers discover the actual accuracy about the event, Mr. Davis also offers a provocative depiction of the idiosyncrasies behind the person responsible for that particular event.

A delightful read, not only was it informative, but a distinctly singular way to look at America's history, and the people behind it. George Washington, Paul Revere and Benedict Arnold emerged not just as historical figures, but also as human beings whose passion, patriotism and greed came to play an important role in the place they earned in history.

The writer gives more background than other historical books on the same subject...such as Washintons' bungles and the womens role in the times of the Puritans. I am still reading the book, but have enjoyed the "other side of the story".

High School American History is what it is, a large composition of dates and names with little dimension of cause and effect. Since then I've heard tid bits from conversations, radio talk shows, tripsing around Jamestown, and book reviews. I listened to Mr. Davis on a radio talk show and his interview intrigued me into reading this book. The stories, related or not, gave me a perspective into these short biographies that brought my previous exposure of those topics into focus. I had heard that George Washington didn't ask for a salary as President, but instead asked the Congress to pay his expenses. That wasn't evident in the book, but the personality of the man Davis describes make such a request plausible. Just as I had learned and heard that Benedict Arnold wasn't a turncoat initially; I never knew why (but then I have never read his biography) but now I do. It's well written if you view each section as vignettes. I was a little confused at how he laid out the chapters at first, but then I got it. He gives you a time-line of European and American events, then he gives you the big picture and then he starts the story telling. For a quick fun read, I recommend his book.

Kenneth Davis knows that history is complicated.

American history textbooks and oral history give us perfect role models in our historical figures and an unfolding story in which we were always on the side of right and any bad things that happened were the other people's fault.

In reality, it's never that simple. And we don't even usually know even the basic facts.

For instance, most people know that Columbus discovered America and then a couple hundred years later the Pilgrims arrived.

But how many people know about the wine-making French Huguenots, who were here before the Pilgrims?

And the Pilgrims were stern and God-fearing people, but they came here for religious freedom and our country was built on that priciple.

Ask Anne Hutchinson about that.

And I bet you have no idea how blood-thirsty the Pilgrims could be.

You will after you read this book. Be prepared for a shock.

And as for the Founding Fathers, well, of course, they were all virtuous, highly intelligent, dignified men who came together in one accord to build our country and create a foundation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us, regardless of social station.

Except people are all more complex than that, and nobody's motives are completely pure. Plus, everyone makes mistakes.

Like the one that a young, inexperienced George Washington made that ended in murder and started a war.

The truth is that the Founding Fathers all had different ideas and conflicting goals, for themselves and for the nation. The way the country was formed was through brawling, back-biting, lying, greed, and arrogance, much like politics today.

The amazing thing is that the country was formed, became what it has, and has thrived for over two hundred years.

American History, as told by Mr. Davis, is a vibrant and entertaining subject. No student who was presented with these forefathers and foremothers would ever be bored.

And about those foremothers..did you know that the first statue of a woman in America was built to honor a woman who escaper her Indian captives by taking their scalps with a hatchet?

Do the names Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowland, and Hannah Dustin ring a bell?

Well, they will after you read their amazing stories in America's Hidden History.

I believe that this book should be required reading in every high school and college American History class.

As the mini-series John Adams on HBO also showed, seeing our heroes as flawed human beings does not make their accomplishments less.

But maybe knowing our own real history can help us to better understand ourselves and avoid some of the mistakes of the past.

One thing that is very clear from reading this book is that respect for the lives of others is a relatively new concept. The Indians and the Pilgrims did not value each others' lives at all. Neither did the Spanish, French, Catholics, non-Catholics, British, colonists, or anyone else in that entire period of history. The concept of "one world" or a "global village" could not have even existed at that time, it seems.

It was always "us against the world," whoever the "us" happened to be in that time and place.

Thomas Jefferson is quoted in this book as having said:

". . The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

How far have we really come?

Read America's Hidden History. You'll be informed, entertained, instructed and enlightened. And it won't hurt a bit.

I haven't finished reading the book yet, but what I've read so far astounds me. Sounds like we've been missing a lot of history in our watered down versions we brainwash our children with. I don't know if this guy is really writing the truth, but if he is we should update our history books for schools. Why shouldn't our children learn the truth, these people are all dead anyway.

I haven't had time to finish this book yet but from what I have read it is good. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about American history without falling asleep.

Book was not as expected. Only a few stories, and they were mostly stories that I had heard many times in other books. Not an "untold stories" book. Disapointed.

Kenneth C. Davis starts out with an interesting and valuable perspective: American history is Anglo-centric and therefore, incomplete. This premis is true, American history books tend to begin with the Revolutionary war and they focus on Engllish and French participation. Many of America's greater 17th century heros are thereby neglected.
After a strong start, the books veracity begins to falter; questionable facts are carelessly laced with reality to make a good yarn.
By Section II, Davis moves on to the story of Anne Hutchinson. Unfortunately, Davis slights reality once again by neglecting the cadre of important figures (Dr. John Clarke and other Antinomians) who played a much larger role in establishing American freedoms of speech and separation of church and state.

this was an easy read and I enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more but it was very entertaining.

Untold tales are interesting, but the real value to me was what these tales revealed about the characters in them. Kenneth Davis did a great job of putting their lives and actions in a meaningful context.

Living not far from the Hutchinson River Parkway, I was fascinated by his take on the tale of Anne Hutchinson. I'd heard it before, of course, and knew the basics. What Davis told me, though, was that she had advised some of her male disciples not to join a militia at war with local Indians, making her an organizer of some of America's earliest conscientious objectors. He also pointed out that it was after her trial that the Puritans in Boston banned Roman Catholics, Quakers, and other sects. Her younger sister, who became a Quaker, was whipped for blasphemy. Another of her followers who joined the Quakers, Mary Dyer, was arrested, stripped in public, and lashed. Later, the defiant Dyer returned to Boston, refused to leave and was executed.

Davis gives us equally illuminating tales of George Washington as a headstrong and ambitious young man who committed a war crime, what Paul Revere really did during the Revolution, and how Daniel Shay stood up for his rights only to be crushed like a bug--making American stronger in the process.

America's Hidden History reads as if it were told from the inside, full of first-person accounts and other source material that give us a clear, relatively objective view of what our founding fathers (and mothers) were like.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo

As person who needs to know history in order to fully understand this crazy world, I found Mr. Davis' book a great read! I was taken back to those times in way that I can understand why things turned out the way it did! He is one of the few historians that were able to show how people without money and position in the 18th century felt while the country was forming.

He is the first historian that I ever read to paint class tension through Shay's rebellion! In school this event was just one test question that was never fully talked about or analyzed. It was interesting to learn more of what the working class both slave and indenture people were feeling at the time. The first American Revolution in 1776 only replaced monarch rule with a burgeoning middling and upper class fortunate to take control. It wasn't until the 1780's and Shay's rebellion that woke up the early power class to realize how important it was to include all of the people--under 18th century definition of those who should be included in order that the country succeed!

As I was reading Mr. Davis's book, I felt he was talking to me directly which is a sign of a great thinker and writer!!! Good book!

Having read several of the author's previous "Don't Know Much About..." books, I looked forward to his newest product with anticipation.

Alas, this book does not meet a high standard. It's a strange book, because it focuses only on a small part of America's history (1565-1789) and it does so by telling six stories, none of them interrelated. The result is a book that is disjointed and lacks any kind of structure.

The stories offer some nice tidbits of historical research, but fail to make a compelling point. The chapter on Benedict Arnold, for instance, fails to address the fascinating question, Why did he do what he did? Sure, he was disappointed and possibly enraged at not getting the recognition he felt he deserved, and he had an awful pro-British wife, but one wishes to know more... Similarly, the final chapter, on Shays Rebellion, was a wake-up call that forced the Founding Fathers to really work on creating the right kind of Constitution and republic form of government, but how close a call was it? Was our new country (actually a collection of squabbling states) in serious danger of collapsing entirely? The author suggests this was the case, but doesn't support it vigorously. The reader is left hanging, wondering: What's the point?

Generally speaking, good history writing needs to be either extremely thorough, or fast-paced. This book, unfortunately, falls in the deadly middle and is boring.

I'm sure anyone reading this review is a history lover like I am, only AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY by Kenneth Davis isn't really a history book. In reality, this should be categorized as historical fiction.

Let me start by saying, the writing is very good and flows nicely if you are interested in a diversion from the usual fare of history books. You know, ones that are accurate. This is sort of a cross between Howard Zinn revisionism of history and Dee Brown omission or history.

If you're into a distorted dissertation about the evils of European man against the ideallic, pastoral lifestyle that pervaded North America and how evil conservatism in general is with regards to mankind, then this book is right up your alley.

Did you know that before he took up arms against the British and became our first President, George Washington, a young English officer ordered his Virginia militiamen to sneak attack a group of French diplomats during a time when both countries were at peace thus committing a war crime? The cowardly incident resulted in the start of the French and Indian War, but didn't quite make it into my high school history book.

To give away any more surprising stories for this review would surely do a disservice to the author and the reader. But take my word for it, this book is packed with many more interesting historic tales!

Kenneth C. Davis, best-selling Don't Know Much About History and other books in his Don't Know Much... series, does a wonderful job of bringing to light all of the quirky, informative, but always amusing tales of the stoic, and yes, sometimes flawed, figured that shaped our nation's fate.

I am an avid student of history, especially that which does not traditionally make it into the text books. Having enjoyed books like:

Ku Klux Klan America's First Terrorists Exposed (Shadow History of the United States)

Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Don't Know Much About...)

...I was thrilled to see that Mr. Davis's newest work AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY was available...so I picked it up and read it cover to cover in one sitting!

This book is as informative as it is entertaining, and the insights on our founding father alone makes it well worth the price.

Once again, my highest recommendation for this collection of unique Americana.