Reviews for America, past and present

The average rating for America, past and present based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-29 00:00:00 James Crosby After nearly a year of reading this textbook, I feel very qualified to give my opinion. I read this for AP US History. It's actually the first textbook I have read cover to cover, and it is a very long one at that. I'm going to divide this review into what I liked about it, and what I absolutely detested. Positive: It has abundant resources. I appreciated the Appendix possibly more than the text. Good information about presidents, supreme court justices, the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, etc. These were really helpful resources. Also, the index was helpful in the beginning before I realized the internet was a far better resource for looking up details. With regard to the chapters, I appreciated the organization. It was pretty consistent, and that made it easy to know where I was at and what I could expect with each topic. The information was usually consistent with what I was learning in class, and it helped by adding a narrative to all the details that are necessary to know in this course. Negative: It is so long. Does it need to be that long? No. It really doesn't. There were some incredibly random details, feature essays, law and society articles, etc. that were completely unnecessary to understand or explain in further detail than a few sentences, but no. That would be too easy. You really had to dig to find the details, and I would not have made it through the textbook if not for my trusty pencil. There's also an absurd lack of digital documentation, and the text to photo ratio stinks. That being said, this is a textbook, so that's to be expected. The bias on certain topics was also really frustrating, which made it difficult to just read straight history. In conclusion, I would only recommend the textbook reading to APUSH students, or those who really want a comprehensive detailed overview of general US History. I do not think it is a good study resource, and I do not think that most high school students will find it helpful unless they are very visual and literary people.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-05-15 00:00:00 Anthony Christopher Oh, America Past and Present, my old frenemy. I remember all those nights I spent with you: stressing and worrying and waking up with highlighter on my face. I remember waking up after three hours of sleep feeling gross because I hadn't showered the night before and red eyes because I slept in my contacts. Sometimes I liked you when I went to study group and we quizzed each other over coffee. You were even useful when I wanted to kill the fly on my ceiling. Still, I am glad to be done with you. I actually sleep at night now without a crank in my neck from sleeping on a textbook. I shower every day, and I have free time on the weekends. I don't have to freak out over anything AP, just getting into college (which I have already). Overall, I don't miss you, America Past and Present. I don't think anyone ever misses you. I do wish I could get someone to buy you off me though. That would be nice.