The Slackers Guide to U.S. History: The Bare Minimum on Discovering America, the Boston Tea Party, the California Gold Rush, and Lots of Other Stuff Dead White Guys Did

What does Miley Cyrus have in common with Sacagawea? How could Steve Jobs have helped Eisenhower? What does the moon landing have to do with the Hilton sisters?

In less time than it takes to recite the preamble to the Constitution, most Americans can spout off all their U.S. history knowledge. (Hint: it starts with “In 1492” and ends with “sailed the ocean blue.”) That’s because most history books are as interesting as the phone book—and have the same number of pages. The average Joe (the gu...