Two Miserable Presidents, Steve Sheinkin
Two Miserable Presidents, Steve Sheinkin
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Two Miserable Presidents
Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War

Author: Steve Sheinkin

Narrator: Vikas Adam, Steve Sheinkin

Unabridged: 6 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/10/2021


Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor recipient Steve Sheinkin gives young listeners the causes and curses that divided America into Union and Confederate nations in Two Miserable Presidents: The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War.

A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year
A Beacon of Freedom Award Winner

Get the feeling something big is about to happen? Welcome to the Civil War―one of the scariest, saddest, and occasionally wackiest stories in American History.

1856: Northern and Southern settlers attack each other in Kansas.
1858: Congressmen start sneaking guns and knives into the Senate chamber.
1860: President James Buchanan is heard wailing, “I am the last president of the United States!”

Unraveling a very complicated string of events--the small things, the personal ones, the big issues--Steve Sheinkin takes readers behind the scenes that led to The Civil War. It is a time and a war that threatened America's very existence, revealed in the surprising true stories of the soldiers and statesmen who battled it out.

“Chatty and accessible, this book does double duty: it introduces Civil War history for readers who don't know much about it and supplies browsable commentary for those familiar with the big picture...Beginning with a look at the role cotton played in the history, his fast-paced narrative is broken into short, tersely titled vignettes...The horrors of slavery and battlefield slaughter are clear, as are achievements of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and many more.” ―Booklist

About Steve Sheinkin

Steve Sheinkin is the critically acclaimed author of National Book Award Finalist and Sibert Medal winner Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon; Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War, winner of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction; and National Book Award Finalist The Port Chicago 50. He resides in Saratoga Springs, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Deborah

Once upon a time, there was a stupid smart girl. That is, she did really well on all those "How Smart Are You?" tests; but she often had trouble in school, because she couldn't learn anything unless she was genuinely interested in it. Eventually, she dropped out and wandered around until she signed......more

History was never my strongest curriculum area. It was just list after list of names, places, and dates that tended to jumble together as the lists grew. Nothing was ever "alive" enough for me to gain an actual understanding of the events--what happened, who was involved, and, most importantly, why......more

Goodreads review by Ed

The title led me to believe this would be a compilation of only the odd stories that don't make it into textbooks. Maybe a bit like "Lies My Teacher Told Me". Instead, it is a full, but condensed, history of the civil war from start to finish. It is told in an engaging way, with an emphasis on the s......more