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Could you share your favorite books for American History? Ds. will be in 12th grade.


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I probably won't be much help, since I suspect we're coming at this from different directions. But here's a quick summary of what my son will be doing/reading for Modern American History (1865 - present) next year.

 

I'm using American History on the Screen as kind of a jumping off point. We'll be using about 10 of their lessons, the ones that align with the time period he's studying. But my husband and I are also writing lessons (using the book's as a template) for another 20-ish films. For each movie, there is background information, followed by a series of questions to answer while/after watching.

 

Alongside that, he'll go through the appropriate lessons on the U.S. History course here: http://www.hippocampus.org/History%20%26%20Government

 

I also have him reading sections from Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned.

 

And he'll also read five of the books on which the films are based before watching them: The Great Gatsby, Paper Moon, The Chosen, The Grapes of Wrath and All the President's Men.

 

I've kind of wrestled all of that into an approach that roughly follows Hewitt's honors American history syllabus.

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He has read David McCullough's John Adams and Truman. What are other favorites or books that are absolutely wonderful that should be read. Thanks for your input.

 

My ds loves US History. He's enjoyed David McCullough as well. Here are a few of his other favorite books:

 

History of the American People by Paul Johnson (I loved this book, too.)

Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (winner of the Pulitzer)

The Campaign the Won America and other books by Burke Davis

books by Albert Marrin

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir by Clarence Thomas

 

I wish I could ask ds for the rest of his list, but we put him on a plane this morning. I'm missing him already. :crying:

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Eliana, this is wonderful!! Thank you so much. Thanks for including a few fiction titles too. The only ones in the list ds. has read are Night, 10,000 Days of Thunder, Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, Guns of August, Battle Cry of Freedom, Killer Angels, and Twelve Angry Men (movie not the book).

Could you recommend some documentaries and movies too? Would like to view some that are too good to be missed. Thank you, again.

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Are you looking for curriculum or read-alongs?

For curriculum we used The American Past by Joseph Conlin. It's a college textbook in 2 volumes. I like it because it is very balanced in presentation, not trying to push an agenda like so many high school curricula do. If you get the 8th edition, there are online quizzes and activities that go with it and save the teacher (you) a ton of work.

Here's our read-along list:

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I Was Born a Slave (3 volume anthology of slave narratives--read selections unless your ds loves them so much he wants to read them all)

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet

His Brother's Keeper by Charles Sheldon

That Printer of Udell's by Harold Bell Wright

Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki

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