Kenneth C. Davis is the author of Don’t Know Much About® History, which spent 35 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and gave rise to the Don’t Know Much About® series, which has a combined in-print total of some 4.7-million copies. In June 2011, Don’t Know Much About History: Anniversary Edition was released in hardcover by HarperCollins. A newly revised, updated and expanded edition of the book that started the series, it now presents a complete survey of American history, from before the arrival of Columbus in 1492 right through the events of the past decade –from 9/11 through the election of Barack Obama and the first years of his administration.

Davis, who has been dubbed “The King of Knowing” by Amazon.com, aims to become a subject expert in all of the areas he writes about – the Bible, Mythology, the Universe, the Civil War, for example. Ken has also been a “Wise Man” on Who Wants to be a Super Millionaire and a “Life Line” on the regular edition of the show.

Ken Davis’s success aptly makes the case that Americans don’t hate history, just the dull version they slept through in class. But many of them want to know now because their kids are asking them questions they can’t answer. 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.

A somewhat well-kept secret – Ken Davis never graduated from college, but he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Concordia College in Bronxville, where he was also asked to give a commencement address.

Other points of note:

•When Disney wanted a bonus book to package with the DVD release of the Nicholas Cage hit National Treasure, they bought 1.5-million copies of Don’t Know Much About American History, Davis’s book for middle-grade readers.

•Davis has spoken about teaching history to teachers groups, such as the National Council for the Social Studies, which invited him to its annual meeting in Denver in 2010; and he was a presenter at the teacher workshop conferences sponsored by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute for Teaching American History in Kentucky in 2011.

•Davis has begun to use technology to reach out to schools and teachers. In Spring 2011, he made his first “Skype Classroom Tour,” with sessions in more than 30 schools around the country via an Internet video connection. He also conducted his first “webinar” for teachers in May 2011 in association with the National Council for the Social Studies.

•He regularly makes visits to schools, and such venues as the American Museum of Natural History, the New-York Historical Society, and the Smithsonian Institution, where he has hosted “The Don’t Know Much About” game, played with student audiences.

•Ken Davis is a frequent media guest. He has appeared on hundreds of television and radio shows, including NPR, The Today Show, Fox & Friends, CNN, and The Discovery Channel. He has been a commentator for “All Things Considered,” and has written for the New York Times, CNN.com, and Smithsonian Magazine. (See Articles Page)