I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Thursday, December 31st.

Today we have a special treat for you as one of our last shows of the year. It's none other

than historian Kenneth C. Davis,

with an end of year news and history quiz, prizes included, which we'll tell you about in a minute.

Ken's classic book, don't know much about history, has just been reissued in a 30th anniversary

edition. If you're not already a history buff, the book's Q&A format will get you

reading history for fun for the first time. And even if you're already into American history,

you'll probably learn a lot from the way Ken frames things up. And Ken has constructed a news

and history quiz for us in a few relevant categories that tie yesterday to today, categories

including one-term presidents and inaugurations and pardons and a few other things, as well as some

general U.S. history questions and more. And here's how it'll work. Each caller will get three questions. Get two out of the three

write and we'll send you a copy of Don't Know Much About History and for good measure of Brian

Lairr Show, Remote Learning Mug. The book and the mug for getting two out of three rights. Ken,

thanks so much for doing this with us and writing all these quiz questions.

Welcome back to WNYC. Good morning, Brian. It's a great pleasure to be with you. And, you know,

teachers used to say pop quiz clear off your desks. Now they say put away your phones.

I see we have a 13-year-old calling in to try their hand at the quiz. So let's take Ames in Hoboken next. Ames

are on WNYC. Hi there. Hi, Brian. Thank you so much for having me on. And I just want to say

thank you for helping my family and I through the pandemic. We love your show. Well, that's so sweet

of you to say. Where do you go to school?

I go to school. It's called the Hudson School in Hoboken. Great. Well, you're ready for a little news and history quiz here? Yeah. Okay, Ames. If you get two out of three right, then we'll send you a

Brian Lair show, remote learning mug. You're probably sick of remote learning, but we'll send you a mug Laird Show, remote learning mug. You're probably sick of

...