Painless American History

Assuming the identity of a super sleuth, students navigate American history from pre-colonial times to the current era. Author Curt Lader assumes kids using this book don't like to study history, so he makes it fun by focusing on the most interesting people and events (which usually happen to be the most significant) and having students complete a variety of activities that reinforce or add a real-world element to the information they're absorbing. Lader emphasizes fun, but he also provides genuine information and relies on the presentation/memorization method for helping kids internalize the material.

Many of the activities involve looking up websites (largely .govs and the like so you don't have to worry about 404s)—if you don't have Internet access you may want to find a different text. Unlike others in the Barron's Painlessseries, Painless American Historydoesn't include written exercises, instead relying on supplementary investigative activities to reinforce information. The back of the book recommends it for middle school students, and also unique to this volume in the series that seems like the only appropriate level either for introductory or remedial use.

This is pretty lightning-fast history. Lader begins with a defense of history study, a brief introduction to thinking about history, and then jumps into American history, starting before the arrival of the first European explorers. While students will get a decent overview of the major events, they'll be left without a solid understanding of the ideological and social motivations behind many of them and will thus be not much better off. Painless American Historycan be a good supplement for a more complete course or as a brief introduction before going more in-depth, but shouldn't be used for much else.