In this 2010 lecture, the late Harvard historian Bernardo Bailyn says: Historians know how it all came out, but the people of the time didn’t. The most important things in their lives was the uncertainty. We haven’t got a clue...
contingency
The “Umbrella Man” is back
Tonight is the first night of content in my “Introduction to History” course. I love using this video to teach historical thinking, especially causality, complexity, and contingency: I discuss how I use this video on page 10-11 in Why Study...
What is historical contingency?
Parts of this post are based on my book Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past. In a recent piece at The Atlantic, Yale historian Joanne Freeman writes about Hamilton: The Musical: It has also gained new relevance over time, promoting...
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...
Introducing *Contingent Magazine*
[vimeo 309247680 w=640 h=360] If you care about history and want to hear from historians working outside of the academic tenure-track, then you should be aware of Contingent Magazine, a new startup from historians Erin Bartram, Bill Black, Emily Esten, and...
Thoughts on Michael Gerson’s “The Last Temptation”: Part 3
Click here for previous installments of this series. Click here to read Gerson’s article in The Atlantic. Here is Gerson on the history of American Protestant fundamentalism: Moreover, in making their case on cultural decay and decline, evangelicals have, in some...