About the Book
Kenneth C. Davis, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About® History, presents a collection of extraordinary stories, each detailing an overlooked episode that shaped the nation's destiny and character. Davis's dramatic narratives set the record straight, busting myths and bringing to light little-known but fascinating facts from a time when the nation's fate hung in the balance.
Spanning a period from the Spanish arrival in America to George Washington's inauguration in 1789, America's Hidden History details these episodes, among others:
- The story of the first real Pilgrims in America, who were wine-making French Huguenots, not dour English Separatists
- The coming-of-age story of Queen Isabella, who suggested that Columbus pack the moving mess hall of pigs that may have spread disease to many Native Americans
- The long, bloody relationship between the Pilgrims and Indians that runs counter to the idyllic scene of the Thanksgiving feast
- The little-known story of George Washington as a headstrong young soldier who committed a war crime, signed a confession, and started a war!
Full of color, intrigue, and human interest, America's Hidden History is an iconoclastic look at America's past, connecting some of the dots between history and today's headlines, proving why Davis is truly America's Teacher.
"Writing from a rich font of scholarship, seasoning the facts with wit, irony and a novelist's eye for telling detail, Kenneth C. Davis has conjured back to life some of the most fascinating figures of America's founding decades. All-but-forgotten heroines (Hannah Dustin, Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson) take their rightful place onstage alongside "great men" (Washington, Revere, Daniel Shays) whose names, until Davis restored them to life, had long eclipsed their striking words and deeds. This is American history in the vibrant narrative tradition of David McCullough and H. W. Brands."
— Ron Powers, co-author of Flags of Our Fathers
