Publisher's wish for students

I was thirty years old before I discovered that history is really interesting and fun. In school, my history books and classes dealt only with what happened and when it happened, and the happenings seemed to have little to do with me. I learned the happenings and the dates, and I am glad I did, but the learning wasn't very interesting or much fun.

When I was thirty, a friend recommended an exciting book that I enjoyed reading, until I realized it was a history book. I tried to put it aside, but it was too late -- I just had to know how the story came out. I picked up the book again and wondered what kind of history book this could be with real-seeming people, who came from families not unlike mine, who had problems and weaknesses, but who persevered until they achieved what they set out to do. I began to imagine what I would have done if I had lived back in "historic" times. I was hooked on history!

Schools require us to know the happenings and dates for a good reason: these facts are the preparation we need to launch ourselves on the history adventure. Knowing the facts, then, is not the goal of our learning about history; it is the preparation for it.

Adventure Tales of America seeks to tell the real-life, real-people stories of history with excitement and humor, so that you will hardly notice you are also learning the facts. My wish is for you to discover the interest and fun of history now, not when you are thirty!

Philip R. Jonsson
Signal Media Publishers
Specialists in Innovative Learning