Andrew Smith's Reviews > The Skeptic's Guide to American History

Mark Stoler, a renowned historian, sets out to debunk a list of commonly held myths and half-truths about American history, unpicking these with facts and analysis which show them up to be the falsehoods he always knew them to be. The list he produced of subjects and events is rather eclectic but did include a few areas I’m particularly interested in – especially a couple concerning the American Civil War. This audiobook comprised a series of lectures, each lasting 30 – 40 minutes.

It quickly became apparent that some knowledge of American history is a prerequisite here as Stoler isn’t looking to explain the history here but rather to challenge the interpretation of the outcome of a series of steps he references but does not explain (typically this might be a legal change introduced by the government of the day, a specific battle - or series of battles - or any other event which might have prompted an important action or reaction). Each section had a theme or a question, but I found some of the early lectures hard going as I just didn’t have enough background knowledge to fully appreciate or challenge the professor’s analysis.

When it came to areas in which I did have some knowledge I was somewhat surprised to find that the arguments put forward, whilst firmly set in logic and underpinned by plenty of historical detail, didn’t really debunk myths or half-truths so much as take a side in what had always been, in my view, a lively debate. One example of this was his lecture entitled Did Slavery Really Cause the Civil War? In short, there was really nothing new here. So after picking my way through quite a few I decided to skip the remainder. In truth, I found it all rather disappointing.