DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR

The author’s contention that slavery was the cause of the war (it takes up a quarter of this work) is rather simplistic. By minimizing the many other causes of this national tragedy, Davis does a great disservice to those he wishes to inform. The arrangement is in a question-and-answer format with apparently adolescent voices asking the questions and at least two anonymous adults answering. The readers are all easy to understand and follow. Indeed, they take this often dry and occasionally cynical text farther than it deserves. M.T.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 97]