I have all three of these books, and like them so much that I read them instead of my favorite fiction! Never having been a history buff and not getting much good info in school, these are filling in important gaps for me. Very entertaining, very clear and to the point, covers a lot of issues and circumstances. Highly recommend!
Tom McHale is the author of The Practical Guide series. He's not a historian, a professor, or a politician. He's a guy who got curious, did the reading, and wrote the books he wished someone had handed him twenty years ago.
His writing has been described as "Bill Bryson meets civics class." He takes that as the highest possible compliment.
Tom lives with his family and an unreasonable number of books. He's melted three Kindles so far and is just getting warmed up.
You can find the latest at tom-mchale.com, and there’s always a free eBook there for the taking, along with social media links if you’d like to connect.
About the Author
Here's the thing. Most of us have opinions about America. We argue about the Constitution at Thanksgiving. We share articles about free speech. We have feelings about how the country is run.
"I know I learned this in school, but I can't remember any of it."
"I have strong opinions, but I couldn't actually explain the history behind them."
"Every time the news mentions the Constitution, I realize I don't know what it really says."
"I'd love to be the person at the table who actually knows this stuff, not the one who nods along."
"I tried reading about American history before. I fell asleep by page three."
I get it.
School made this stuff feel like punishment. Memorize dates. Pass the test. Forget everything by summer.
And the "serious" books about American history? They read like they were written to impress other professors, not to help normal people understand what happened and why it matters.
I kept thinking: there has to be a version of this that's actually worth reading. Something that connects the dots instead of just listing facts. Something you'd finish and think, "Why didn't someone explain it like this in the first place?"
So I wrote it.
The Constitution is four pages long. The arguments about what it means have lasted 230+ years.
This book explains both, and does it without putting you to sleep.
What You'll Get:
What's Inside: The Constitution
These aren't textbooks. They're not political commentary. They're three short books that give you the context school skipped, told the way a friend would explain it over coffee.
Readers compare the writing to Bill Bryson. A 25-year history teacher uses them in his classes. A 73-year-old grandmother bought the set for her grandson and read them all first.
The only complaint? People wish they'd found them sooner.
“Every single teenager should be reading this book as part of their history and/or government classes. Adults should read this book every couple of years as a reminder.”
Three short paperbacks. Each one stands alone, but together they tell the whole story: how America happened, what the Constitution actually means, and where your rights begin and end.
No prerequisites. No 400-page commitment.
Start wherever you're curious.
I always meant to learn more about how America actually works.
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone:
The Greatest Hits of America... In One Practical Bundle
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Here's what I did about it
I took the most important parts of American history, the Constitution, and free speech, and rewrote them the way I wish someone had explained them to me.
No jargon. No textbook voice. No memorizing dates for a test nobody's giving.
Just the parts that actually matter, told like a story:
How did we get from "a bunch of colonies that couldn't agree on anything" to "the country that changed the world?"
This book tells that story, start to finish, without the boring parts.
What you'll get:
What's Inside: America
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Then I realized "meant to" wasn't going to cut it.
But if someone asked you to actually explain how we got here, how thirteen colonies that couldn't agree on anything became one country, what the Constitution really says (and doesn't say), or what "free speech" actually protects?
You'd probably do what I did. Change the subject.
I'm Tom McHale, and I spent years researching the answers to those questions. Not because I'm a historian. Because I was tired of nodding along in conversations about things I should have understood better.
— Ann D.
Tom McHale has managed to keep me reading until I finished his delightful, lighthearted explanation of the founding documents of our republic. No heavy tome for law school students, 'The Practical Guide to the United States Constitution' is an engaging, fun read... in a civics primer, no less!
— Amazon Reviewer
- Why 13 colonies that hated each other agreed to become one country (barely)
- What the Constitution actually says, in plain language, and why it says it
- How the Bill of Rights almost didn't happen, and why that matters now
- What "free speech" really protects (and what it absolutely doesn't)
- Why we're still having the same political fights the founders had in the 1780s
- The connections between all of it that school never thought to draw
Everyone has opinions about free speech. Almost nobody can explain what the First Amendment actually protects, and what it doesn't cover.
This book fixes that in about two hours.
What You'll Get:
What's Inside: Free Speech
The Practical Guide to Free Speech
- What "free speech" really means (it's not what most people think)
- The landmark Supreme Court cases that shaped your rights, told as stories, not case briefs
- Why some speech is protected that probably shouldn't be, and some isn't that probably should be
- How social media, cancel culture, and corporate policies fit into a framework written in 1791
- The difference between "the government can't stop you" and "you can say whatever you want" (spoiler: they're not the same thing)
It provides an excellent definition of the nuances of free speech and the consequences of expressing yourself.
— Charles H.
The Practical Guide to the United States Constitution
- The real story behind the Constitutional Convention (it almost fell apart, multiple times)
- What each article and amendment actually means in plain English
- Why the Bill of Rights was a last-minute save that changed everything
- The founder arguments that are still playing out in today's headlines
- How to actually read the Constitution and understand what you're looking at
I'm 73 years old, and this book taught me things I didn't learn in my school days. I also bought a hard copy for my grandson, hoping against hope that he'll catch the excitement for what this country can be. In fact, I bought all 3 'Practical Guide' books. Well done!
— Patricia M.
The Practical Guide to America
- The real reasons the colonies broke from Britain (it wasn't just tea)
- How westward expansion, slavery, and the Civil War reshaped everything the founders built
- The moments that nearly ended America, and the ones that defined it
- Why knowing this story changes the way you see today's headlines
- History told like a story, not a timeline
FWIW, I've taught US History and American Government for 25 years to high school homeschoolers and I love these books.
— Kirby W.
Witty? Yes. Accurate? Always.
It took me forever to sit down and write these. I kept thinking someone smarter, someone with more credentials, should be the one doing it. Then I realized that was exactly the problem. The "credentialed" people keep writing for each other. Nobody was writing this for the rest of us.
So I did. And I'm glad.
— Tom
Got these for my granddaughter. I started reading. She can have them when I'm done. Very entertaining and clearly written.
— Karen S.
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