Princeton historian Matthew Karp offers a stinging criticism of the “stamped from the beginning” view of American history. Here is a taste of his Harper’s piece “History as End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past.” Whatever birthday it...
change over time
What the heck is Rick Santorum talking about?
Please do not get your American history from my former U.S. Senator. Here is part of a recent lecture to the Young America’s Foundation: Let’s just get some facts straight: Some, but not all, Europeans came to North America to...
Mike Lindell thought his documentary would be a “miracle” that would “get us back to being one nation under God.” (Eric Metaxas nods his head in agreement).
The Trump impeachment trial begins today. I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t know what holds-up in a court of law, but how can anybody disagree with the idea that Trump is responsible for the insurrection? The impeachment trial will...
GOP Convention: Night 3
Yesterday was my first day of face-to-face teaching since March. I am not yet in “classroom shape,” so I was exhausted by the end of the day. Mentally, I was still reeling from multiple technology failures (mostly due to my...
Tuesday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since yesterday’s update? Franklin Graham is on the stump for Trump. This is from his Facebook page : In the last presidential election in 2016, I reminded people across the country that the election was not about...
Out of the Zoo: The 5 C’s of Christianity
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
24 Hours With Kansas History Educators
This weekend (Sunday and Monday) I made my first visit to Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas Council of History Education (KCHE) invited me to deliver the keynote address at their annual meeting. It was held this year on the campus of...
*Why Study History*-Inspired Bulletin Boards
I love it! High school and middle school history teachers are reading Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past and finding bulletin board material. Matt, a seventh-grade history teaching in Illinois, posts this (with additional inspiration from Stanford...
A Right-Wing Pundit Gets a History Lesson
I know a lot of you have been following Kevin Kruse‘s twitter take-down of right-wing pundit Dinesh D’Souza. Kruse, a professor of history at Princeton University, is challenging D’Souza’s claim that today’s Democratic Party is the party of racism because...
Kevin Kruse Breaks Twitter Again
Princeton historian Kevin Kruse is sick and tired of Trump supporters claiming that the Democrats are the party of racism and white supremacy today because they were the party of racism and white supremacy 100+ years ago. This twitter thread...
Is Anything “Unprecedented” About Donald Trump?
I teach my students that historians often think in terms of change and continuity. In the age of Trump I have been hammering this lesson home more than usual. Is Trump just another manifestation of nativism, populism, xenophobia, narcissism, etc.? ...
From the 1850s to the 1950s in 10 Minutes
Tonight should be an interesting one for students in my Civil War America class. We are currently studying the 1850s and the political, social, cultural, economic, and racial lead-up to the Civil War. The class usually runs from 6:15-9:15pm, but...
This Irresponsible Historical Thinking Has to Stop!
Read Jennifer Kerns‘s recent piece on politics and Charlottesville at The Washington Examiner. Kerns is a GOP communications strategist who has worked for the California Republican Party and Fox News. Here is a taste: In the aftermath of Charlottesville, an awful...
Old School
As I write this Bill O’Reilly’s recent book Old School: Life in the Sane Lane is ranked number 19 in sales at Amazon. That is pretty good. I imagine O’Reilly’s firing from Fox might be energizing some of his so-called “base.”...
Do Historians Privilege "Change Over Time" Over "Continuity?"
Back in January 2007 historians Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke wrote a piece in Perspectives on History titled “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?” In this essay Andrews and Burke synthesized the concepts that historians use to make sense...
New Interactive Map Shows the Impact of American Westward Expansion on Native Americans
These interactive maps are becoming more and more popular. They are amazing resources for visualizing change over time. The number of visual learners in our classrooms is growing rapidly, making these digital maps valuable teaching tools. The latest map in...