of America, The American Adventure (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1975),
provide the greatest contrast to the usual narrative textbooks, but they are both
out of print. Students could use reserve copies at their school library, however.
Joy Hakim’s series, A History of US (New York: Oxford University Press,
2006 [1993]), reads well and should be in every classroom.
More interesting still is to compare a very different book with a standard
textbook. Possibilities include Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the
United States (New York: Harper, 2005), a left-wing approach, and Clarence
B. Carson, A Basic History of the United States (Wadley, AL: American
Textbook Committee, 1986), from the right. Or histories emphasizing a
particular group or theme can be used, such as those listed in note 13 below.
Other ideas are available at workshops, seminars, and summer institutes for
history teachers run by the National Endowment for the Humanities and state
endowments, universities, historical museums, and professional associations.
I also hope that the full citations provided in the endnotes the first time a
source is cited in each chapter will prove as useful as a separate bibliography.
12 Using Taking Sides in the Classroom (Guilford, CT: Dushkin, 1996), a
guide for teachers using Dushkin’s popular series, suggests ways to help
students develop critical thinking skills and manage conflicting points of view.
It is out of print but is usually available on the web. Also see Bill Bigelow,
ed., et al., Rethinking Our Classrooms (Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools,
2007).
13 Jackdaws, packets of copies of original historical materials, are published
by Jackdaw Publications (jackdaw.com). Several textbook publishers put out
teachers’ kits that are more interesting than their textbooks. Teaching for
Change (teachingforchange.org) puts out a useful and compact catalog of
materials for history teachers. Social Studies School Service puts out
Multicultural Studies Catalog, which groups teaching materials for women’s
history, Hispanic history, and so on. Accessible at any university library, the
ERIC database reports thousands of teaching ideas indexed by keywords on
CD-ROM and available on microfiche. Some articles are online at eric.ed.gov.
American literature usefully ties in with American history, so long as that
literature is historically accurate. Thus, Okla Hannali by R. A. Lafferty offers
a rich overview of the nineteenth century.
Anthro. Notes, a newsletter published by the National Museum of Natural
History (Kaupp, Public Information Office, Dept. of Anthropology, Stop 112,