For both avid readers and those looking to spark a new habit, The World in Books is an invitation to a more lively and meaningful intellectual life. Davis's literary adventure guides readers through some of the most important works of nonfiction of all time, offering a political, literary, and cultural history through reading.

Each of the fifty-two entries provides the book's opening lines or a brief excerpt from the work; a summary of the work; a biography of the author; why you should read the work; and what to read next. Davis offers insights into some of the most enduring issues of our time--from the existential perspective in Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, to questions of race in Toni Morrison's The Origin of Others, and the climate crisis in Elizabeth Kolbert's Under a White Sky. With insights from ancient times to the present day, Kenneth C. Davis offers a wide-ranging historical education through pleasure reading. In an accessible, conversational style, he explores texts that both mirror our contemporary moment and present new ways to think about our lives.

These 52 selections, with books perfect for reading one week at a time, offer a year-long journey through history, philosophy, nature, and personal growth. More than just a literary companion, The World in Books is an education that combines wisdom with practical application. Davis's work has been called a wealth of succinct, entertaining advice (Kirkus Reviews). The World in Books provides an engaging way to explore some of the most influential books ever written. A refresher course for lifelong learners.

A New York Times bestseller - More than 1.7 Million Copies Sold

Reading Davis is like returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had --People magazine

From the arrival of Columbus through the historic election of Barack Obama and beyond, Kenneth C. Davis carries readers on a rollicking ride through more than five hundred years of American history. In this 30th anniversary edition of the classic anti-textbook--which includes a new preface by Davis--he debunks, recounts, and serves up the real story behind the myths and fallacies of American history.

Experience the joys of literature with this this exciting guide to all that the world of fiction has to offer (The New York Times Book Review): a compulsively readable, deeply engaging discussion of great short novels. A journey into fiction designed with our contemporary attention spans in mind, Great Short Books suggests fifty-eight excellent short novels, all under 200 pages--easily readable in a week or less--a fresh approach to a fun, fascinating year of reading.

From hard-boiled fiction to magical realism, the 18th century to the present day, Great Short Books spans genres, cultures, countries, and time to present an enchanting and diverse selection of acclaimed and canonical novels. From works in translation like Yu Miri's Tokyo Ueno Station and Marguerite Duras's The Lover to popular, acclaimed authors like Toni Morrison and James Baldwin, this compilation is a celebration of classics from the historic to contemporary--plus a few bestsellers, including Stephen King and Colson Whitehead. Each entry includes the novel's opening lines, a spoiler-free plot summary, a why you should read it section, and suggestions for what to read next.

An entertaining journey with a fun, knowledgeable guide (Booklist), this eclectic collection is a fun and practical book for any passionate reader hoping to broaden their literary IQ--or anyone who wants to find an effortless reentry into reading.

Kenneth C. Davis, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About History, presents a collection of extraordinary stories, each detailing an overlooked episode that shaped the nation's destiny and character. Davis's dramatic narratives set the record straight, busting myths and bringing to light little-known but fascinating facts from a time when the nation's fate hung in the balance.

Spanning a period from the Spanish arrival in America to George Washington's inauguration in 1789, America's Hidden History details these episodes, among others:

• The story of the first real Pilgrims in America, who were wine-making French Huguenots, not dour English Separatists
• The coming-of-age story of Queen Isabella, who suggested that Columbus pack the moving mess hall of pigs that may have spread disease to many Native Americans
• The long, bloody relationship between the Pilgrims and Indians that runs counter to the idyllic scene of the Thanksgiving feast
• The little-known story of George Washington as a headstrong young soldier who committed a war crime, signed a confession, and started a war!

Full of color, intrigue, and human interest, America's Hidden History is an iconoclastic look at America's past, connecting some of the dots between history and today's headlines, proving why Davis is truly America's Teacher.

Don't Know Much About Geography by New York Times bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis is a fascinating and fun exploration of our planet.

Geography is the hub from which other disciplines radiate: meteorology, ecology, geology, oceanography, demographics, cartography, agricultural studies, economics, and political science.

In addition to presenting geographical trivia that'll impress your friends, Davis explores 21st-century topics of global concern, including the role of the Internet and technology in transforming the lives of people around the world, how so-called developing nations develop, sustainability, and the debates over climate change and evolutionary science.

This completely revised and updated version of Don't Know Much About Geography is an entertaining and illuminating grand tour of planet Earth.

Kenneth C. Davis, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller Don't Know Much About History, presents a collection of extraordinary stories, each detailing an overlooked episode that shaped the nation's destiny and character. Davis's dramatic narratives set the record straight, busting myths and bringing to light little-known but fascinating facts from a time when the nation's fate hung in the balance.

Spanning a period from the Spanish arrival in America to George Washington's inauguration in 1789, America's Hidden History is an iconoclastic look at America's past, connecting some of the dots between history and today's headlines, and proving why Davis is truly America's teacher.

Find out:

• Which Pilgrims arrived in Florida fifty years before the Mayflower sailed.
• What Supreme Court Justice went to prison.
• What traitor is honored with a statue for his bravery.
• Which fighting woman in colonial New England scalped her Indian captors.

In this fascinating installment of the New York Times bestselling Don't Know Much About(R) series, Kenneth C. Davis explores the great myths of the world and their implications for art, science, religion and culture throughout history.

What is an Egyptian pyramid doing on the U. S. dollar bill? - Did a pharaoh inspire Moses to worship one God? - What's a Canaanite demoness doing at a rock concert?

Since the beginning of time, people have been insatiably curious. They've asked questions about where we come from, why the stars shine and the seasons change, and what constitutes evil. The imaginative answers crafted by our ancestors have served as religion, science, philosophy, and popular literature.

In an engaging and delightfully irreverent question-and-answer style, Davis tackles the epic of Gilgamesh; Achilles and the Trojan War; Stonehenge and the Druids; Odin, Thor, and the entire Norse pantheon; Native American myths, and much more, including the dramatic life and times of the man who would be Buddha. From Mount Olympus to Machu Picchu, here is an insightful, lively look at the greatest stories ever told.

Did you know that many of America's Founding Fathers--who fought for liberty and justice for all--were slave owners? Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were owned by four of our greatest presidents, this middle-grade nonfiction book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America.

From Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, personal manservant and lifelong slave of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narratives explore our country's great tragedy--that a nation conceived in liberty was also born in shackles. These stories help us know the real people who were essential to the birth of this nation but traditionally have been left out of US history books. Their stories are true--and they should be heard.

This thoroughly-researched and documented book by Kenneth C. Davis can be worked into multiple aspects of the Common Core curriculum. It is a great resource for young students of United States history.

Praise for In the Shadow of Liberty:

This well-researched book offers a chronological history of slavery in America and features five enslaved people and the four U.S. presidents who owned them.... A valuable, broad perspective on slavery. --Booklist, starred review

Compulsively readable. . . . A must-have selection. --School Library Journal, starred review

Who dug those canals on Mars? What was the biblical Star of Bethlehem? Were the pyramids built by extraterrestrials?

From the ancients who charted the heavens to Star Trek, The X-Files, and Apollo 13, outer space has intrigued people through the ages. Yet most of us look up at the night sky and feel totally in the dark when it comes to the basic facts about the universe.

Kenneth C. Davis steps into that void with a lively and readable guide to the discoveries, theories, and real people who have shed light on the mysteries and wonders of the cosmos. Discover why Einstein was such a genius, the truth behind a blue moon or two, the amazing secrets of Stonehenge, and even how one great astronomer lost his nose.

With the fun question-and-answer format that has appealed to the millions of readers of his bestselling Don't Much About(R) series, you'll be taking off on an exciting armchair exploration of the solar system, the Milky Way, and beyond.

History in Davis's hands is loud, coarse, painful, funny, irreverent--and memorable.
-- San Francisco Chronicle

Following on his New York Times bestsellers America's Hidden History and Don't Know Much About History, Ken Davis explores the next chapter in the country's hidden history: the gritty first half of the 19th century, among the most tumultuous in the nation's short life.

Highly informative and entertaining...propels the reader light years beyond dull textbooks and Gone with the Wind.
--San Francisco Chronicle

It has been 150 years since the opening salvo of America's War Between the States. New York Times bestselling author Ken Davis tells us everything we never knew about our nation's bloodiest conflict in Don't Know Much About (R) the Civil War--another fascinating and fun installment in his acclaimed series.

In his wildly entertaining, winningly irreverent, New York Times bestselling Don't Know Much About^(R) series, author Kenneth C. Davis has amused and edified us with fascinating facts about history, mythology, the Bible, the universe, geography, and the Civil War.

Now, the sky's the limit in his latest irresistible installment--a grand tour of knowledge that carries us from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Berlin Wall, from the Salem Witch Trials to Watergate, from Michelangelo to Houdini. Brimming with busted myths, gripping true stories, and peculiar particulars about a plethora of people, places, and events, this captivating compendium is guaranteed to delight information lovers everywhere as it feeds our insatiable appetite to know everything

From the Battle of Yorktown (1781), where a fledgling America learned hard lessons about what kind of military it would need to survive, to Fallujah (2004), which epitomized the dawn of the privatization of war, Hidden History of America at War takes readers inside the battlefield, introducing them to key characters and events that will shatter myths, misconceptions, and romanticism, replacing them with rich insight.

Was Columbus the first European in the Americas?

What sport became more popular after the Civil War?

Were the Little Rock Nine a rock-and-roll band?

As best-selling author Kenneth C. Davis knows, history can be fun, fascinating, and memorable. When his don't know much about(R) history was published in 1990, it was a sensation. The book delivered a fresh take on history with its wit and unusual detail. Davis now does for young people what his earlier book did for adults. In his trademark question-and-answer style -- peppered with surprising facts, historic reproductions, and Matt Faulkner's lively illustrations -- Davis introduces our ancestors who settled the East and expanded the West, as well as those who had been living here all along. His sure touch brings the drama and excitement of the American story vividly to life.

From the bestselling author of the Don't Know Much About(R) books comes a dramatic account of the origins of democracy, the history of authoritarianism, and the reigns of five of history's deadliest dictators.

A Washington Post Best Book of the Year! A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year! A YALSA 2021 Nonfiction Award Nominee!

What makes a country fall to a dictator? How do authoritarian leaders--strongmen--capable of killing millions acquire their power? How are they able to defeat the ideal of democracy? And what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again?

By profiling five of the most notoriously ruthless dictators in history--Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein--Kenneth C. Davis seeks to answer these questions, examining the forces in these strongmen's personal lives and historical periods that shaped the leaders they'd become.

Meticulously researched and complete with photographs, Strongman provides insight into the lives of five leaders who callously transformed the world and serves as an invaluable resource in an era when democracy itself seems in peril.

* A fascinating, highly readable portrayal of infamous men that provides urgent lessons for democracy now. --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Strongman is a book that is both deeply researched and deeply felt, both an alarming warning and a galvanizing call to action, both daunting and necessary to read and discuss. --Cynthia Levinson, author of Fault Lines in the Constitution

With wit, wisdom, and an extraordinary talent for turning dry, difficult reading into colorful and realistic accounts, the creator of the bestselling Don't Know Much About(R), series now brings the world of the Old and New testaments to life as no one else can in the bestseller Don't Know Much About(R) The Bible. Relying on new research and improved translations, Davis uncovers some amazing questions and contradictions about what the Bible really says. Jericho's walls may have tumbled down because the city lies on a fault line. Moses never parted the Red Sea. There was a Jesus, but he wasn't born on Christmas and he probably wasn't an only child.

Davis brings readers up-to-date on findings gleaned from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic Gospels that prompt serious scholars to ask such serious questions as: Who wrote the Bible? Did Jesus say everything we were taught he did? Did he say more? By examining the Bible historically, Davis entertains and amazes, provides a much better understanding of the subject, and offers much more fun learning about it.

• If Earth is round, why don't people on the other side of the world fall off? (see page 26)
• Is Mars red because it's embarrassed? (see page 49)
• If black holes are invisible, how do we know they're there? (see page 86)

For both avid readers and those looking to spark a new habit, The World in Books is an invitation to a more lively and meaningful intellectual life. Davis's literary adventure guides readers through some of the most important works of nonfiction of all time, offering a political, literary, and cultural history through reading.

Each of the fifty-two entries provides the book's opening lines or a brief excerpt from the work; a summary of the work; a biography of the author; why you should read the work; and what to read next. Davis offers insights into some of the most enduring issues of our time--from the existential perspective in Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, to questions of race in Toni Morrison's The Origin of Others, and the climate crisis in Elizabeth Kolbert's Under a White Sky. With insights from ancient times to the present day, Kenneth C. Davis offers a wide-ranging historical education through pleasure reading. In an accessible, conversational style, he explores texts that both mirror our contemporary moment and present new ways to think about our lives.

These 52 selections, with books perfect for reading one week at a time, offer a year-long journey through history, philosophy, nature, and personal growth. More than just a literary companion, The World in Books is an education that combines wisdom with practical application. Davis's work has been called a wealth of succinct, entertaining advice (Kirkus Reviews). The World in Books provides an engaging way to explore some of the most influential books ever written. A refresher course for lifelong learners.