One-Night Stands with American History

I was visiting Washington D.C. recently and saw this book at the gift shop there. On a whim (mostly because I love trivia), I decided to buy the book to read on the plane home. I never made it that far.
Richard Shenkman and Kurt Reiger put together a collection of trivia, facts, and anecdotes regarding nine different time periods including Columbus, The Civil War, Hiroshima, and many others. A wide variety of information is covered, and nearly every (if not every) entry has source notes.
When I first picked up the book, I finished it before my scheduled plane departure. I stayed up all night reading the book until it was finished. I had a One Night Stand with American History.

Not exactly heavy reading, since one can finish it in one sitting with little effort, but this was one of the most fun books this little history buff has ever read.
ONSWAH gives a few dozen anecdotes and unusual or ironic facts in each era of American history on up until the Carter administration.
For anyone who is interested in America history and wants something more akin to brain candy, I highly recommend this book. It's one you will pull off the shelf again and again, just to make sure that little known and silly fact actually does exist and you didn't just imagine it. Just please don't start any bar fights over some of the odder bits of trivia.

Shenkman has a gift for digging up interesting events and facts about history. In this case, the material is presented as a long string of anecdotes, organized about as well as one can organize such a collection. It's often humourous, it's usually enlightening, and it's full of the irreverence with which we should be viewing the 'official' version of US history.
Unfortunately, its conclusions are at times debatable, so while it is valuable as a historical study, it is by no means definitive. Before you cite Shenkman on any point, I would look up his sources and satisfy myself as to context and credibility. To Shenkman's credit, the sources are referenced, so one can do just that if one feels motivated.
Recommended, especially for people who profess to hate history because of the way it was taught. That, at least, Shenkman can probably remedy--there's nothing to hate about the way Shenkman relates history.

Wonderful book. Second I have read from Shenkman and I am off to order more. There are few books that when the end comes, you have a deep feeling of regret. I hated to see the book end. It treats history in an interesting manner and provides stories that are often left out in the dry classes that worry about covering a survey course and not the interesting tidbit of social history which add to the flavor of our American society.

You'll be amused, you'll read some of these out loud to your friends, then they will enjoy it and pass it on. Very light, very fun.

For anyone who has the "basics" down about American History, this book in an invaluable source for little known incidents starting from the first voyages to the New World all the way to the Ford presidency. Its these little known incidences which give the reader a feel for the times in which they occurred. Interesting and well-researched.