I'm not done with this book but i can definitely agree with almost everyone here. This book can be really REALLY boring at parts, but the more you just change the big pompous looking words to words you can relate to, the better the book gets. I've always thought that u.s. history wasn't the most intriguing subject at school, but this book shows mainly the vulnerability of America as a country in its infancy. overall I think the book could have been made a little more user-friendly, and those who could understand this book without a dictionary open next to them probably know this information already. its a good book, but probably not meant for most high school students. it just takes a little work to find the real meaning of the chapter through all the unnecessary words.