Choosing high school history resources?

[swimmermom3]

I recently started to look at US history texts and am amazed at some of the reviews on Amazon. The process may be much more difficult than I expected.

 

So if you use a history text for high school, what is your criteria for choosing one?

 

If you are interested in achieving some level of balance, how do you assess your potential resources?

 

Several years ago, there were some incredible threads on on the middle school board that discussed bias in the American history materials for that age group. It was eye-opening and I felt rather naive then. I still feel naive.

 

 

[swimmermom3]

I am going to toss out a few of the supplementary titles on the APUSH sample syllabi on the College Board and perhaps those of you with actual experience with the materials can comment?

 

Actually, the first two names were seared into my brain from previous conversations:

 

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn

 

A History of the American People - Paul Johnson

 

The first is left of center, while the second is right of center, correct?

 

Would these two compliment each other and provide rich learning experiences? How is the scholarship? Are they well-researched and the arguments well-supported?

 

If you prefer to pm me, that's too.

[elegantlion]

I took US History 1865-present this year at college. Working on my research project was eye-opening. My paper was on Japanese Internment during WWII. Somehow  :coolgleamA:  :laugh: over the years, I've ended up with quite a few US history textbooks. Coverage varied wildly, from about 1/2 a page to two or more with photo and offset commentary. 

 

Our class used America, A Narrative History and I found it readable, detailed, and, imo, had more neutral wording and stances than some of the others. 

 

Because ds wants a git-er-done US history course (focused mainly on WWI-WWII) I'm using America's History by Henretta as our spine for next year. This book seems to focus more on cultural/personal history than politics. It's not quite as dense as the Tindall book. 

 

Another text I liked was Nation of Nations. I haven't read enough of it to speak to the bias, but it seemed to cover events in a little more depth than the others. 

 

Others that I looked because they were on my shelves were The Unfinished Nation which gave scant coverage to Japanese internment and vague details. 

 

If I had to choose one text I'd probably go with the one we used for class Tindall America, A Narrative History or do more comparison with Nation of Nations. 

 

I also own The American Pageant -but it was stuffed in a box and I didn't find it again until a few weeks ago. I think it was boxed up because I found it too wordy for ds and my version is older. 

 

If you want me to look up anything specific in any of these books, just let me know. 

[pjssully]

Hi,

I also used the Tindall book last year with my daughter-or should I say, "books".  We used book 1 and book 2, we used the Education portal, when it was free, we used Lies My Teacher Told Me... and then quite a few odds n ends, historical fictional.  My daughter looked through at least 3 different American history books before she accepted this one.  FWIW.

pam

[Robin in DFW]

We are using a typical high school textbook...Pathways to the Present (the survey version).  It's not super in-depth, but we've added primary source documents and ds is using an old syllabus from Keystone that my dd used.  It has quizzes and tests and lots of essay response questions.  With all our additions, we are spreading it over 2 years.  We will be doing the 2nd half this coming year.

 

FWIW...Zinn was a proud communist, if I remember correctly.  His book is rather bleak and makes the U.S. seem like a really horrific place.  I know it covers often glossed over topics, but I personally wouldn't use it.  I know the U.S. has it's faults, but golly...I mean, I want to know the good and the bad, but golly...

 

 

Robin

[AMJ]

My eldest is in Jr High now, so I have a somewhat related question, please: if you have been following a 4-year rotation of Ancients, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern history when/where do you fit in U.S. (or country you live in) history and how much of the year do you spend on it?

[Maureen]

We are continuing the 4 year cycle through the high school years (finishing Ancients this year).  In 7th and 8th grade we covered 1600-present and I would say that just over half of the books read and movies watched focused on the US.  I taught everything in a chronological way throughout, so we shifted from the American Revolution to the French revolution for instance.  I think this worked well as those two revolutions are good to compare/contrast.  We plan to do it again in 11th/12th grade.  I'll simply assign more sophisticated literature and require more analysis on how events in one area of the world affect others.  This way of studying history has been so much better IMHO than taking one area of the world and studying it all the way through because we've been able to draw so many cause/effect relationships.  I also personally believe kids need more than just one year of world history in high school, so the 4 year plan gives time to go much more in depth.

For the high school years, I'm also requiring more study on the governmental and economic structures of the various civilizations studied as a lead up to studying US government later.  I still haven't decided exactly how I'll structure the class when I get there, but we've spent quite a bit of time this year studying Greece and Rome which should help when we talk about the influences on the Founding Fathers.

[~Anna~]

We are going to use The American Odyssey.  I do believe that A History of the American People by Paul Johnson is right of center because I kept it on my wishlist and got rid of the Zinn book.  I also have this book on my Amazon wishlist that looked interesting.

[SilverMoon]

I did this dance awhile ago. IIRC, Zinn was way too liberal, Schweikart was way too conservative, and Johnson had his own issues but was somewhere in the middle.

 

We went with Johnson, and the free schedule from the fundafunda website, which I believe was made by a WTM boardie.

[SilverMoon]

My eldest is in Jr High now, so I have a somewhat related question, please: if you have been following a 4-year rotation of Ancients, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern history when/where do you fit in U.S. (or country you live in) history and how much of the year do you spend on it?

TWTM explains how to do this for high school. :)

 

My teens did the history rotation for grammar and logic stage, but broke out of it for high school. DS did ancients for 9th, will do medieval for 10th, American for 11th, and government/economics for 12th. Ancients and medieval are his favorite periods, and will count as world history. DD is planning to do American in 9th, world and geography in 10th, government/economics in 11th, and "I'll leave 12th open for high interests, TBD."

[AMJ]

We are continuing the 4 year cycle through the high school years (finishing Ancients this year). In 7th and 8th grade we covered 1600-present and I would say that just over half of the books read and movies watched focused on the US. I taught everything in a chronological way throughout, so we shifted from the American Revolution to the French revolution for instance. I think this worked well as those two revolutions are good to compare/contrast. We plan to do it again in 11th/12th grade. I'll simply assign more sophisticated literature and require more analysis on how events in one area of the world affect others. This way of studying history has been so much better IMHO than taking one area of the world and studying it all the way through because we've been able to draw so many cause/effect relationships. I also personally believe kids need more than just one year of world history in high school, so the 4 year plan gives time to go much more in depth.

For the high school years, I'm also requiring more study on the governmental and economic structures of the various civilizations studied as a lead up to studying US government later. I still haven't decided exactly how I'll structure the class when I get there, but we've spent quite a bit of time this year studying Greece and Rome which should help when we talk about the influences on the Founding Fathers.

Thank you! I like this progression. Do you have any book/material recommendations?

[Maureen]

AMJ

 

If you PM me your email address I will try to send you a list of everything I had my girls read and watch over those two years.  Realize that was for 7th/8th grades.  I haven't made a definitive list for high school yet since I'm planning medieval for next year (10th).

[swimmermom3]

I took US History 1865-present this year at college. Working on my research project was eye-opening. My paper was on Japanese Internment during WWII. Somehow  :coolgleamA:  :laugh: over the years, I've ended up with quite a few US history textbooks. Coverage varied wildly, from about 1/2 a page to two or more with photo and offset commentary. 

 

Our class used America, A Narrative History and I found it readable, detailed, and, imo, had more neutral wording and stances than some of the others. 

 

Because ds wants a git-er-done US history course (focused mainly on WWI-WWII) I'm using America's History by Henretta as our spine for next year. This book seems to focus more on cultural/personal history than politics. It's not quite as dense as the Tindall book. 

 

Another text I liked was Nation of Nations. I haven't read enough of it to speak to the bias, but it seemed to cover events in a little more depth than the others. 

 

Others that I looked because they were on my shelves were The Unfinished Nation which gave scant coverage to Japanese internment and vague details. 

 

If I had to choose one text I'd probably go with the one we used for class Tindall America, A Narrative History or do more comparison with Nation of Nations. 

 

I also own The American Pageant -but it was stuffed in a box and I didn't find it again until a few weeks ago. I think it was boxed up because I found it too wordy for ds and my version is older. 

 

If you want me to look up anything specific in any of these books, just let me know. 

 

EL, thanks so much for taking the time to write this up.

 

Before you did your paper, did you know much about the Japanese Internment? I was well into my 20's before I knew there was such a thing, and I live in the PNW in a city where one of our leading families was interned.

 

I think one of the problems I am having in looking at US history resources is that the definitions in my mind of certain politically charged words that show up in reviews, like "PC, liberal, Marxist, conservative," are different than the mainstream definitions, I think. I spend too much time trying to figure out what someone's real objections are and if they are based on actual examples in the text or just a generalization, because something didn't gel with an existing belief.

 

Anyway, I think I will see if I can get inexpensive copies of the Tindall book and Nation of Nations, which I discovered on a recommended reading list for the Foreign Service Officer Test.  That will give me three main texts, which is probably overkill, but I found it to be helpful for both European and World history.  I can use Boorstin, Zinn, and whoever else for additional readings and contrasting viewpoints.

 

I am comfortable with the general progression of US History, but am concerned that I am not knowledgeable enough on a deeper level. Also, in the past US History has always been a stand-alone subject for us; now I am trying to do it in the context of world history and that has its own issues.

 

 

 

[elegantlion]

EL, thanks so much for taking the time to write this up.

 

Before you did your paper, did you know much about the Japanese Internment? I was well into my 20's before I knew there was such a thing, and I live in the PNW in a city where one of our leading families was interned.

 

I think one of the problems I am having in looking at US history resources is that the definitions in my mind of certain politically charged words that show up in reviews, like "PC, liberal, Marxist, conservative," are different than the mainstream definitions, I think. I spend too much time trying to figure out what someone's real objections are and if they are based on actual examples in the text or just a generalization, because something didn't gel with an existing belief.

 

Anyway, I think I will see if I can get inexpensive copies of the Tindall book and Nation of Nations, which I discovered on a recommended reading list for the Foreign Service Officer Test.  That will give me three main texts, which is probably overkill, but I found it to be helpful for both European and World history.  I can use Boorstin, Zinn, and whoever else for additional readings and contrasting viewpoints.

 

I am comfortable with the general progression of US History, but am concerned that I am not knowledgeable enough on a deeper level. Also, in the past US History has always been a stand-alone subject for us; now I am trying to do it in the context of world history and that has its own issues.

 

 

 

I knew a little about the internment. I don't remember reading about it in school, but I must have seen some coverage over the years. 

 

 

My government text for this semester had biased language. Ds had to listen to me complain about the text a lot. 

[swimmermom3]

I knew a little about the internment. I don't remember reading about it in school, but I must have seen some coverage over the years. 

 

 

My government text for this semester had biased language. Ds had to listen to me complain about the text a lot. 

 

When you have time, would you mind looking at the Tindall book and the Nation of Nations book as see what they say about Columbus, please? It's a small point, but I am curious.

 

Two of my AP Euro books discuss Columbus's part in starting up the slave trade. There is zero mention of it in the American Pageant book I read online and nothing in my copy of Making of America.

[elegantlion]

When you have time, would you mind looking at the Tindall book and the Nation of Nations book as see what they say about Columbus, please? It's a small point, but I am curious.

 

Two of my AP Euro books discuss Columbus's part in starting up the slave trade. There is zero mention of it in the American Pageant book I read online and nothing in my copy of Making of America.

 

I can look in the Nation of Nations book, but I only have vol 2 of the Tindall book. I'll poke around online and see if the support website has a chapter outline or anything. 

[swimmermom3]

I can look in the Nation of Nations book, but I only have vol 2 of the Tindall book. I'll poke around online and see if the support website has a chapter outline or anything. 

 

I found the Tindall book online after I posted, but can't find anything for Nation of Nations. I'd love to see the writing before I order. I suspect I will spend the weekend trying to find pdfs of everything on the AP list. So far, the writing I have seen is sub par to the Euro history books. I don't understand why that would be. Maybe I need to look at older versions of the US history books too. For one of my Euro books, I have a 2001 edition and a 2008 edition. The newer version is condensed and somewhat dumbed-down.

[EKS]

I think I went through 5-6 American history texts before I found The American Odyssey (K12).  It was before they were selling it to everyone (and there were no used copies available) so I had to lie and say that I was considering their American history course for my son but I needed to review the text first.  And they sold it to me.  Anyway, it's extremely readable and it seemed balanced to me.  BTW, I know it's readable because I read the entire thing aloud.

[elegantlion]

When you have time, would you mind looking at the Tindall book and the Nation of Nations book as see what they say about Columbus, please? It's a small point, but I am curious.

 

Two of my AP Euro books discuss Columbus's part in starting up the slave trade. There is zero mention of it in the American Pageant book I read online and nothing in my copy of Making of America.

 

Here's the Tindall outline for chapter 1. It looks like Columbus gets a small section. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/content/ch01/study.htm

 

In the Nation of Nation book, he gets a page and mention throughout the chapter. It doesn't mention slave trade, but it doesn't paint him as the righteous hero either. 

 

Quotes: "...in Columbus the belief that the quickest route to the Indies lay west, across the Atlantic...perhaps a mere 4500 miles, he reckoned, separated Europe from Japan. His wishful estimate raised eyebrows whenever he asked European monarchs for the money to meet his destiny. Most educated Europeans agree the world was round, but they also believed the Atlantic barrier between themselves and Asia was far wider than Columbus allowed. The Kings of England, France, and Portugal dismissed hi as a crackpot." 

 

it goes on to the say that Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to subsidize the expedition in a moment of weakness when they were dealing with Portugal, overriding their "common sense". 

[Luckymama]

I think I went through 5-6 American history texts before I found The American Odyssey (K12). It was before they were selling it to everyone (and there were no used copies available) so I had to lie and say that I was considering their American history course for my son but I needed to review the text first. And they sold it to me. Anyway, it's extremely readable and it seemed balance to me. BTW, I know it's readable because I read the entire thing aloud.

You are the reason why dd is now two chapters from the end of the book :D

 

I was considering selling it, but I think I'll stick it on the shelf for when she takes APUSH. It's night and day compared to American Pageant used by dd19's class.