2 Stars
Leland Gregory's Stupid American History is billed as "informing us about myths", "lead[ing] us through American history's mythconceptions, exposing idiocy and inanity". It does nothing of the sort; the main idiocy and inanity the book exposes is its own.
A more-or-less random collection of largely uninteresting scraps of information, Gregory's book was not at all what I was expecting. Based on the book's publicity (and probably helped along by some wishful thinking of my own), I anticipated a more lighthearted approach to the same sort of myths and distortions discussed in James Loewen's fascinating (but sober) Lies My Teacher Told Me.
Instead, I "learned" that the Pilgrims were Marxian Communists (page 48), that "revisionists" are people who "rewrite history to make it politically correct" (page 147), and that the first line of the Constitution doesn't make sense (page 2): Gregory apparently believes that "more perfect" really means "better than perfect", as opposed to the "closer to perfect" meaning that seems obvious to me. Nothing in the book is referenced or sourced in any way (in some cases probably for good reason).
Even the entries that appear to be factually correct are often puzzlingly insignificant. Why should anyone care that Rachel Jackson was the only First Lady who smoked a pipe (page 2), or that George H. W. Bush was the only President with four names (page 16)? In at least one case, Gregory ignored what I consider the most interesting facet of the factoid: when he mentions Victor Berger's 1911 introduction of a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Senate (page 232), he fails to note that Berger was one of only two Socialists to be elected to Congress (so far).
The book as a whole has no discernible organization. Unfortunately, some entries refer to earlier ones, which could inconvenience those who would prefer to flip to random pages instead of reading straight through. Like most books that overview American history, there is disproportionate focus on the Revolution, the "founding fathers", and the Civil War.
The two stars I give Stupid American History may be generous. I found some of Gregory' factoids amusing. Others were new to me, but given the material mentioned above, I can't trust the information or feel as though I learned anything. Be sure to read a few pages before buying this, to make sure it's what you expect, and what you want.
(25 July 2009)
