Gordon Leidner's Abraham Lincoln collects the know facts assembled about President Lincoln, from his marriage and his personal interests to his favorite poem and his law practice. Filled with trivia-type details, Abraham Lincoln packs in facts, quizzes and trivia information any Lincoln buff will enjoy.

This book is an excellent source for information not generally discussed about Lincoln's faith and his morals. Very well researched with a detailed bibliography. A must read!

This book's great. It presents a very pragmatic way of getting around, and teaches you how to undermine the system.

Here is a charming autobiography written for children although fans of all ages will treasure this book. Lovely artwork of young Lillian and Dorothy highlight this charming little memoir that any silent movie fan will adore.

This is a short story in the American Girls Short Stories series about Addy Walker, a ten-year-old African-American girl living in the America of 1865. After the joy of celebrating the end of the Civil War, Addy's world is thrown into confusion when she receives the news the President Abraham Lincoln was shot. All her hopes for a better future seem gone. However, just when things look their darkest, Addy finds reason to hope.

The final chapter is a historical look at Lincoln's death and its aftermath, and then a nice quiz on Mr. Lincoln. (My eleven-year-old daughter got 8 out of 8!) Once again, Connie Porter has produced a great Addy book, one that shows what life was really like, and teaches a lesson. We highly recommend this book!

The only disadvantage of reading Jody Pott's illustrated history is
that the sequel is long overdue...you'll so enjoy this version, but
will long for the next book in the series, covering the years since
1877.

This is a great, easy way to learn American History, for kids
or adults. Whether or not you have a problem assimilating written (non
visual) text, Dr. Potts' book will teach you the history or broaden
what you already know.

Our history teachers and students need many,
many more books like "Adventure Tales of America." I really
enjoyed it, as did my son during his grade school years.

So
Dr. Potts, please hurry on the sequel!

"The American Revolution: 1763-1783" covers the time frame from the end of the French and Indian Wars to signing of the peace treaty between the British and Americans. The starting point is important because the taxes the Colonists found so burdensome, especially without representation, were primarily designed to have the colonies pay for their own defense. This fifth volume in "The Drama of American History" series aims to give students the "central core" of this period rather than getting bogged down in an overload of information. In other words, authors Christopher and James Lincoln Collier are interested in providing the pageant of American history in "bold strokes."

Consequently, this particular period is covered in six chapters: (1) A Revolution in the Hearts and Minds of Americans begins with the provocative question of whether the revolution was inevitable. The Colliers argue that the great distance between London and the Colonies created an unavoidable conflict between the fact British looked at the Americans as colonists rather than as British citizens and the necessity of the Americans exercising a large degree of autonomy with regards to government because messages back and forth across the Atlantic took months. Given that dynamic, the relationship could not continue forever; (2) The Stamp Act Crisis looks at the first major crisis between the Crown and the Colonies, establishing the quandary faced by the British Parliament, which could neither enforce the Stamp Act nor allow policy to be dictated by what they considered to be a mob. This chapter highlights the potent political rhetoric of James Otis, Patrick Henry, and John Adams in the developing movement towards independence; (3) Taxes and Teas looks at how American attitudes towards Britain continued to evolve in the wake of the Boston Massacre, so that by 1770 any hope of reconciliation between the Crown and the New England colonies was ended and many Americans were now convinced the British Parliament was no longer on their side. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 becomes the spark that ends up triggering the revolution.

The last half of the volume is devoted to the outbreak of actual hostilities: (4) Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill not only relates the details of these early battles in the war for independence, but more importantly shows how they provided evidence that the Colonists could successfully fight the British; (5) The Declaration of Independence actually spends only a few paragraphs discussion the document as an example of practical politics rather than political philosophy. Most of the chapter talks about the lessons George Washington learned from the British evacuation of Boston and the American defeat on Long Island; and (6) The War for American Independence looks at the American Revolution with an emphasis on the chain of events that would lead to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, looking at those events that improved American morale, thwarted British military plans, and/or encouraged French support. The net effect is to give young readers a real sense of how close this contest was, being so dependent on a key victory here and there, along with a tendency for the British to fail to take advantage of significant opportunities.

One of the strengths of this look at the American Revolution is how the Colliers look at key figures in the struggle from an essentially rhetorical perspective, citing the specific words of Samuel Adams, John Adams, and other Founding Fathers. Talking about the stubbornness of Lord North, the British Prime Minister, also helps young readers be aware of how key figures can have a negative effect on the events of history. This volume does a nice job of structuring events as something like a giant chess game, giving readers a sense of not only what happened but why. This volume is illustrated with historic paintings and etchings (including a few choice political cartoons) as well as contemporary full color photographs of Colonial reenactors. Furthermore, the captions for these photographs are usually quite information, underscoring the idea they are not simply put in the book to give you something to look at besides the text. I do not know if it is practical for many history classes to have a complete set of this series, but I do think the basic approach of "The Drama of American Revolution" is pedagogically sound.

In the opening chapter of "Andrew Jackson's America: 1824-1850," Christopher & James Lincoln Collier drive home the difference between Jackson and George Washington by pointing out that Jackson prided himself on being a "man of the people," while the aristocratic Washington would have been insulted by the idea. However, as the first painting of Jackson in this volume clearly shows, no one could look more imperial than Andy By-God Jackson. This ninth volume in excellent series The Drama of American History focuses more on the Age of Jackson rather than just the two terms Jackson served in the White House. After all, Jackson was a major political figure before that time; in fact, he was the first candidate to win three consecutive popular votes for the Presidency.

This volume covers the Age of Jackson in seven chapters: (1) A Man for an Age previews Jackson's impact on American History and how he is clearly one of those figures that who validates the Great Man theory of history. However, while Jackson serves as the defining figure of his time, he is not the focus of most of these chapters; (2) The Industrial Revolution Comes to America looks at the social and economic transformation of the nation that happened during this period; (3) The New Transportation System covers the importance of being able to move people and things from one place to another by canal and railroad; (4) The Rise of the Market Economy looks at the creation of the "blue collar" and "white collar" class system that originated at this time.

Jackson's personal impact on the nation's history highlights the next couple of chapters: (5) The Beginning of the Two-Party Political System erupted after the "Era of Good Feelings" that defined the administration of James Monroe. The bitterly contested election of 1824 between the National Republicans of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay and the Democratic Republicans of Jackson gave birth to the political division that continues to plague us today; (6) Andrew Jackson and the Modern Presidency looks at not only how he played an important role in creating the national Democratic Party, but how his political philosophy of believing in a strong president while not believing in a strong government can best be seen in the public argument over the national bank; and (7) Pushing the Indians Back Again details Jackson's policy of moving the native tribes west to allow white expansion. This chapter has a map that pinpoints 68 major Indian battles between 1829 and 1866 and certainly the Colliers provide a contemporary perspective on the Age of Jackson by ending it with the shame of the Trail of Tears.

The chief value of The Drama of American History series is how the Colliers establish what they call the "central core" of the subject under discussion. "Andrew Jackson's America" shows how the nation changed during this quarter-century and what hand Jackson hand in the nation's peculiar evolution at that point. The volume is illustrated with historic paintings, etchings and political cartoons, although if anything there are too few of the last on this list (there are some really choice examples I have seen elsewhere that would have enriched this volume). Even if this series proves too expensive to work as a complete set for students in the classroom, as I suspect is almost always going to be the case, teachers can still benefit from the organizational structure of these volumes and the emphasis it provides for understanding the period.

This book is an excellent resource. Everything is laid out in so that it doesn't take a lot of time to do a lesson plan.
The activities are excellent for grades 3 and 4. The practice with observing, recording, and making predictions alone makes this book valuable.
The lessons in life cycles, habitat, and animal adaptations are excellent for any teacher. Easy for teachers who do not have a background in science to teach fresh water ecology.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" is the first volume in Bruce Catton's celebrated trilogy chronicling the history of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, one of the most exciting war narratives in literature. Catton had grown up in Michigan around men who had served in that Army and these books were his attempt "to find out about the things which the veterans never discussed." Catton relies on a host of source material to weave his tales, from autobiographies of Generals McClellan and Howard, to the correspondence of Generals Sedgwick and Meade, to dozens of soldiers' reminiscences and regimental histories, to military histories relating to specific battles, campaign, military tactics and weapons. As you read these books you are always feel that you are dealing with living literature rather than dead history. This is because Catton privileges "The Diary of an Enlisted Man" by Lawrence Van Alstyne and the history of "The 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion" more than he does "McClellan's Own Story."

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" covers the Army of the Potomac from its creation to the Battle of Antietam. Despite the title the central figure in the book is General George B. McClellan, the war's most paradoxical figure who gave this Army the training it needed to become a first rate military unit and who then refused to use the great army he had created. There are 6 sections to the book: (1) "Picture-Book War" actually covers the events in 1862 that led to McClellan being placed back in charge of the Army of the Potomac, setting up a rather ironic perspective for what happens both before and after that decision; (2) "The Young General" provides the background on McClellan and details his formation of the Army; (3) "The Era of Suspicion" covers the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign; (4) "An Army on the March" centers on the Second Battle of Manassas/Bull Run when the Army was under John Pope; (5) "Opportunity Knocks Three Times" begins with the great intelligence coup of the Civil War, the discovery of Lee's Special Order No. 191 and establishes how the upcoming battle was handed to McClellan on a silver plate; (6) "Never Call Retreat" tells the story of how McClellan snatched defeat--or at least a bloody tie--from the jaws of victory.

Bruce Catton's books on the Civil War are eminently readable, and with his History of the Army of the Potomac he finds his perfect level, writing about the men who were the common soldiers as much if not more than he does about the generals and politicians. You certainly get the feeling his heart was in these volumes more than it was in his larger histories of the Civil War. For those who are well versed in the grand details of the war, these books provide a more intimate perspective on those great battles.