A Short History of the United States audiobook

I am very much not a 'Murican. I've seen 'Murica on the news, and even visited there several times, but never really felt that I understood the country. In many ways, I've felt more at home in other European countries, despite the different languages. This book provided some really useful insights as to why America is the way it is today.Remini's prose works hard to convey a lot of information. It frequently comes across as almost scientific, but is occasionally punctuated by sudden bursts of enthusiasm.However, it isn't perfect. Whilst trying to produce a short an accessible history is a worthy goal, I felt that if the book were to be twice as long, it might have actually benefitted significantly. Many events could have borne a more nuanced analysis, rather than just being presented, before being brushed aside for in favour of the next big event.Additionally, this a book by an American, for an American. Remini does a good job of remaining objective on some very contentious issues, but still comes across as being broadly in favour of the right to bear arms, for example. Although maybe that's just America. Additionally, the treatment of the natives by settlers is rather swept aside. This might be because the focus is on the States themselves, and also due to the length requirements, but this is an issue that I felt deserved more coverage.Nevertheless, the is a fact-filled, and extremely readable summary of what is still probably the most powerful country in the world. It does a very good job of showing why America is the way it is, and I recommend it.

Robert Remini's Short History of the United States is a great story, retelling American history largely through the machinations of the executive and legislative branches (as they develop). Remini's history is quite opinionated, and it will not be difficult for the reader to discern some of his political allegiances. Nevertheless, this book is indispensable for the purpose of learning American history, and a great reference book.Should the reader think that this book focuses too much on the executive and legislative branches, then perhaps A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn would be a good supplement.

Remini does an excellent job of dividing the history of the U.S. into eleven eras that are easy to digest. He avoids the common pitfall of dismissing the generations that came before us as morally inferior, but frames the history of the republic as a struggle for progress and fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence and values of the Constitution. He holds a positive view of the Jacksonian era relative to other historians, but for the most part is able to present both sides of numerous political arguments that divided Americans throughout the decades. At times, the summaries seemed rushed but that comes with the territory of being “A Short History.”

Gearing up for my naturalization next year -- even though I've known US history for a while now. This book is a nice helping in a short time, plus with insights about our present situation -- for example, on just how bad the Dubya administration was when you look at it in the context of previous administrations and previous wars we had fought. This book should be required reading for those idiots on "Jaywalking".

I loved this book!! Very interesting! It does not bore you with needless statistics. It gives a great overview of the history of the US and in pretty much chronological order that really made it easy to follow!!

A fantastic 350 pg history of our great country. Truly an amazing story.

A good starting place for those who don't know much about US history beyond the obvious.

Franklin Pierce was not even mentioned in this book. It is a great history book because while it is quite inclusive it is very concise. It was a very unbiased view of the events. A history writer must necessarily try to connect events with events and this requires judgments. It was a very balanced presentation. There are always many lessons from history. A profound one is the need for the electorate to be more informed, more aware of how events are connected to events (study history) and to be less focused on personality and more on principles/policy. No human endeavor will be perfect or result in its intended effect. That is proven by this book. If people in governance could share their perspectives (listening and understanding are a part of that), find solutions, educate the public about the compromises necessary for solutions, and then enact them in that same spirit of common purpose, everything would work better. Governance never works when it empowers the few at the expense of the many. It was on this basis that this experiment in government was created from the 1760's to the 1790's. The battle to progress to more freedom, more justice, more fairness continues and history tells us there is always greed, selfishness, and fear to overcome before overcoming the next hurdle.

It’s books like these that make me realize that the history of our country is so intriguing, but also makes me ask so many questions. Just to name a few: How did the presidency evolve from Nothing to the most powerful man in the world? Why was slavery prolonged for so much of our history? This short (and yes, it was very short: One chapter covered the roaring 20s, The Great Depression, And WWII) book was overall really great. It helped me to have a better overarching understanding of our history. However I give it four stars because the author used the word stupid on two separate occasions. Granted, both instances were very much so stupid instances (Buchanan’s inaugural address and Nixon’s watergate scandal), but in a book like this I feel like there should be a more academic word than stupid.

In a time of widespread incredulity towards a master narrative of anything, I am in support of a historian who attempts to write even a short history of the US. Overall, Remini does admirably in this little book. He's an expert on Jacksonian era America, and treats that time period with admirable succinctness. Before and after this, the main structural elements of his narrative are political/presidential centered, which makes sense with the titular goal of brevity. My main critique would be that, from roughly 1980 onwards, Remini's conclusions sounded like his personal commentary and politicians and events of the recent past, yet presented with the kind of dispassionate analysis that only historical distance can yield. Perhaps it would have been better to stop the analysis a bit before modern times, or change the title: "A Short History of the US plus My Opinion on Recent Events."

To those who weren’t raised in America and want to start studying history of this country, this book is for you! I’m from Mexico, and I came to the US as an international student. Before taking my history class I knew very little of this country’s history, which is normal amongst international people. This book is a great source of information because it leaves the details behind and focuses on the main events. In addition, this book is written as a novel which makes it easier to read and follow. If you are an expert in American history, or you are a fan of it, I wouldn’t recommend reading it because it contains everything you already know in the simplest explanation possible.

I have learned about american history in school, but that is quite long ago and I wanted something to refresh my mind before a vacation to the state and for this purpose this book is quite good. It is concise and lists all the important events in the short history of the states, from the settlements to the independence war to the johnson era and construction of the senate and keeps going until and excluding the obama election.

Great book if you want to learn about the key events in the history of the country without going into a lot of details. One issue for me was the lack of sub-sections in the book. Every chapter has a title that gives you an idea of what it is going to cover and then there are walls after walls of text. That makes it really difficult to go back and find information about a particular topic.

A great read if you're interested in American history, and a must read if you're an American.

A reasonably well written book. I like how the events are laid out according to chronological order. One certainly need read other books for detail related to specific part of American history.

I needed a refresher. This was perfect. Not highly detailed, but a broad overview of US History through 2007.