Did young Rosa always follow the rules? Why did she join the NAACP in 1943? How did Rosa Parks get around Montgomery during the bus boycott? In his trademark question-and-answer format, best-selling author Kenneth C. Davis sensitively describes the life of one brave woman who quietly fought for what she believed in. Rosa Parks was arrested after she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person. But she had been fighting the laws that separated blacks and whites for a long time. This biography is peppered with informational sidebars and compelling quotes. Noteworthy photographs and dramatic black-and-white illustrations by Sergio Martinez help capture Rosa Parks's decisive courage, as well as the turbulence of the era in which she lived.
Kenneth C. Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of the Don't Know Much About® series of books and audios for adults and children. Don't Know Much About® History, the first title in the series, became a New York Times bestseller in 1991 and remained on the paperback list for 35 consecutive weeks. It has since been revised several times and now has more than 1.6 million copies in print. The 30th anniversary edition of the book was published with a new preface, "From an Era of Broken Trust to an Era of Broken Democracy."
Davis is, according to Publishers Weekly, "a go-to guy for historical insight and analysis."
AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY also became a New York Times bestseller. A NATION RISING also uses dramatic narratives to tell the "stories your textbooks left out." His book, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR (May 5, 2015) was called "searing" analysis by Publishers Weekly.
Kenneth C. Davis’s success aptly makes the case that Americans don’t hate history, just the dull version they slept through in class. Davis’s approach is to refresh us on the subjects we should have learned in school. He does it by busting myths, setting the record straight, and always remembering that fun is not a four-word letter word.
His IN THE SHADOW OF LIBERTY: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF SLAVERY, FOUR PRESIDENTS, AND FIVE BLACK LIVES looks at the lives of five people enslaved by four of America's most famous Presidents and the role of slavery in American history and the presidency. In May 2018, MORE DEADLY THAN WAR: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War was published.
STRONGMAN: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy was published by Holt. It was named among the best books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and the Washington Post.
In November 2022 GREAT SHORT BOOKS: A Year of Reading--Briefly was published by SCribner. A compendium of 58 great short works Davis read during the pandemic lock down, it is a joyous celebration of reading.
Coming in October 2024 is THE WORLD IN BOOKS: 52 WORKS OF GREAT SHORT NONFICTION. It is an accessible and comprehensive guide to some of the most influential and important works of nonfiction, from the earliest days of writing to contemporary times. Each entry includes information about the writers behind these consequential books and the time in which they lived.
(Claudia) A commendably multi-dimensional portrait of Rosa Parks, from childhood annecdotes and character portrait, through many years of dedicated, difficult, and not always appreciated activism on behalf of the civil rights movement, on into her later years, when she continued to witness for civil rights while supporting herself at low-wage work. The format of bold type questions, followed by a page or so of large-size text, presents the information in manageable-size pieces within a coherent larger structure. Historical information is presented straightforwardly but not simplistically, as are Parks’ complex feelings of hope and bitterness, compassion and anger. Dynamic black and white drawings and occasional photographs add to the telling. Gr. 4-7.
(Booklist) Favorable: “… accessible text and design …” “Plenty of questions … and clear, detailed answers …”
A biography of Rosa Parks told from the humorous perspective of Kenneth C. Davis.
A humble and respected woman, Rosa Parks did not set out to change the world that day when she refused to give up her seat. She was merely doing what she thought was right and was tired of being treated badly. Kenneth C. Davis tells her story in a way that shows you how ordinary you can be and still achieve great things. I admire Rosa Parks for what she did and how she helped the civil rights movement, this book gave me more information about her life. A nice book that had all the good elements of history, as well as the horrific that made me shudder in shame.