The Skeptic's Guide to American History

This is awesome! Just finished the audio CD. An eye opening account of US history. I've never had so many history myths put to rest in one package. No matter what political franchise you buy into, you should indulge in this course.

As expected - satisfied with product and service

I would have given this audio book 4 stars because overall I enjoyed it. I actually like Stoler's delivery and pace which gave you time to think about what he was saying. Sure not all of it was new to me, but a lot of his takes on history was . An example of this was his description of the chain of events at the end of World War II that led to the Cold War countered what I had come to believe but Stoler explanation was done in convincing way to make me rethink and change how I think about hat subject. However, when he gets to the Vietnam war and forward he is a lot less convincing.His take on it was or is pretty much the mainstream view. I wonder if those from his generation that lived through the tumultuous times are really able to be open to other perspectives. It was such a divided time and probably harder to be receptive to the other point of views going forward on the subject.He repeats the notion that Ho's national sentiments were not also attached to his ideology as well. That somehow by the US and the West not supporting him turned him towards socialism or communism. This is just not so, Ho had socialist beliefs prior and during WW1. Also the fact that we worked with him during WWII during Japanese occupation is irrelevant. The Allies worked with communist groups in eastern Europe, China, and of course most notably the USSR.He also claims that Vietnamization was a failure, yet in 1972 the forces of South Vietnam were able to repel the largest invasion of the war at that time and drive the PAVN forces back. The US did provide air power, but the fighting on the ground was done by the ARVN troops. This goes back to Stoler saying how the Republic of Vietnam was not a viable entity without US aide, but how would the DRV stood on it's own with out the aide from China and the Soviet Union. The communist in China had been supporting the DRV since the late 1940s and over the course of the conflicted deployed 300,000 Chinese troops in the North.Stoler is right that the war in Vietnam or second Indochina war was more than a battle of the Cold War. Nationalistic sentiment was strong among all the people of Vietnam, but the conflict was a civil war among the people of Vietnam over ideology, Marxist-Leninist communism vs a free market capitalist society. The USSR, China and the US were just amplifiers of it but did not create the divide. When the country was divided in 1954 close to a million people fled the North to the South, they did this to escape the communist rule in the North. Just as those in the South that took up with the NLF did so because they were believers in communism.As for the domino theory for Southeast Asia, when US military operations were restricted by the Case-Church amendment, and US aide was greatly reduced. South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all fell to communist regimes. Thailand did not, but it was the only country in SE Asia not restricted under the Case-Church amendment.

Fascinating. Great audio for the car and then review later by reviewing in the written book.

Very dense, provacative, facinating. Enjoyed it very much...

skeptic i am!

The stated intent of this course was invalidated in the first chapter. Essentially this is yet another historians myopic OPINION of the intent of historical figures. Specifically, as it relates to the founders, he presents a narrow representation of what their views were without appeal to first source records. The Founding fathers were not monolithic. Sad! Another example of poor academic work that will continue to leave readers falsely informed.

I don't know American history well enough to attest to the accuracy of this book but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know some people don't like the way the speaker speaks, but I enjoyed it. He sounds like actor Paul Giamatti to me, whom I enjoy. I definitely learned a lot and would recommend this if you want a broad view of American history.