Ever since War Department propaganda films set the mold, historians have pretty much followed: the road to Pearl Harbor began in 1931 with Japanese aggression in Manchuria. Any "revision" regarding the War in the Pacific has its own set of problems--engendering controversy, often running up against patriotic sentiments and the tendency…

In 1942, Howard Wilson, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the editor of the Harvard Educational Review, called for the "easternization of America," in reaction to what he called the "glib" talk for years about the "westernization of Asia." Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Wilson's…

Improving critical thinking--defined by one expert as "reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do"--has been a frequent topic in the writing of history educators at least since the early 1970s. Attitudes and interests do support higher-level thinking and, most importantly, knowledge used in carrying it out…