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teaching late 20th century history - middle east in particular - any documentary suggestions, or...?


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I'm fumbling my way through a year of teaching 20th century history. I was good for the first 50 years but after watching an old bbc documentary series on the cold war via youtube (which is very good, btw) I realised that I really don't know the second half of the 20th century very well at all. In may ways I feel that recent history is some of the most important history to understand so I don't want to do a poor job at teaching it. Now that we're almost done this series I've been thinking of trying to find another on  the history of the middle east crisis and the gulf wars.

 

My understanding of this history is VERY fuzzy and so I don't even really know what I need to teach. What should I start with? What should I cover? Do you have any suggestions for materials? Documentaries are actually getting done here which is a bonus. We've been watching them together in the evenings when our littles are all out of the way. I'd probably prefer this route but some books would be good too, especially if I can get them from the library.

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General Modern (20th century) World resources (possible spines?)

books
The World Today (Henry Brun) -- gr. 8-adult
covers contemporary problems and their origins in countries on all continents, in short 
(1-2 page) sketches of the history/and why of how the country's current problems/politics arose

DK Millennium Children's History of the 20th Century
The 20th Century Year By Year: Family Guide to the People and Events that Shaped the Last Hundred Years (Philips)

video
Crash Couse: World History -- YouTube videos; 42 episodes -- mostly earlier history, but episodes #37-42 are Communism/WW2 to 

curriculum plan/list
Eclectic Homeschooling: Documentary-Based Modern World History Course for High School -- 18-week study from WW2 to present

past WTM threads with movie/documentary ideas:
"Documentaries/movies and biographies for 20th Century World History" (US and World)
"20th century documentaries"
"Brainstorm up an easy-peasy documentary-based history class"

Middle East resources:

resource list
Ed Tech Teacher: Modern History: Middle East Conflict -- list of links to resources

books
Modern Middle East: The 20th Century (Primary Source Readers) -- by Conklin -- gr. 4-6
Leaders of the Middle East (Conklin) -- gr. 4-6
The Mirage of Peace: Understanding the Never-Ending Conflict in the Middle East (Aikman) -- gr. 8-adult

videos
Crash Course Middle East -- free, YouTube

past thread
"Middle East resources?"

ETA: PS
And to keep things from getting SO heavy, maybe add in some modern-times documentaries on other topics. Examples:
- Modern Marvels series
- Crash Course: Computer History series
- Sister Wendy Art Appreciation videos: American Collection (links to episode 1 of several episodes); she also has a 10-part Story of Painting, with episode 9 and 10 about 20th century art

Edited by Lori D.
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