Discusses competing conceptions of culture and prescriptions for education concerning war and peace. Reviews following books: London's "Armageddon in the Classroom: An Examination of Nuclear Education"; Reardon's "Comprehensive Peace Education: Education for Global Responsibility"; Reardon's "Education for Global…

Historically, the cold war was a watershed that separated two epochs: the time of abnormal, although compelled, partnership of two political systems and the period of peaceful coexistence with barely hidden hostility. The peacefulness of the latter, however elusive and vulnerable it was from time to time, has to be credited to the cold war, a…

In this article, the author discusses his "History of the Vietnam War" course, which takes oral history as the core of its curriculum. This oral history focuses on personal lives and stories that can bring history to life. The components of the course are as follows: (1) overview of the History of the Vietnam War; (2) email interviews;…

This article describes how the author developed and implemented a course on World War II that has an oral history component. The author describes the format of the World War II course and the oral history component within the course framework. The author uses classroom presentations by veterans to enliven his World War II history class and enhance…

This article describes how students in an American history class learned about the Civil War through soldiers' letters. Letters from the Civil War era come in a variety of styles and syntax. Some are easy to read while others are extremely difficult to transcribe. But every one of them speaks to the reader, revealing an unknown entity from another…

In this article, the author describes a social studies class activity that uses primary sources to develop a soap opera based on the American Civil War. In the soap opera activity, students can watch historical characters as they grow, develop, and change. Not only do people in the soap opera develop over a long period, but their accumulated…

The merits of the wide-ranging West Civ" course are questioned. Topical courses are advocated as an alternative. A college freshman history course, using war as the central theme is outlined with suggested reading material. (Author/MB)

While domestic politics occurs in the presence of a sovereign government, international political activity takes place in a state of anarchy. Each nation-state claims sovereignty and recognizes no power superior to itself. When discussing peace, teachers must be realistic about interdependence, which can lead to war, as in 1914. (MLH)

Proven to be powerful learning tools, literature and song can spark students' interests and are resources with great potential for fostering learning. The use of literature and song in history classes can be a stand-alone instructional strategy or a supplement to more traditional means of teaching. Once students' interest and imagination have been…

History and literature contain the keys to understanding oneself and others. Studying these subjects helps young people realize how the world they know evolved and how people like them coped with challenges, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. These subjects introduce students to models of achievement and courage, but they also provide…

Gerda Weissmann Klein was 15 years old in September 1939 when Germany invaded the city of Bielitz (present-day Bielsko), Poland. In her memoir, "All But My Life," she recounts the horror of losing family and friends, of life in concentration camps, of the death march and of liberation in 1945 by an American soldier named Kurt Klein, who…

The author describes the issues raised for him by team-teaching a course on the Shoah that aimed to incorporate familial, historical, and rhetorical perspectives. Considering firsthand testimonies, songs written by camp inmates, renderings of others' stories such as Art Spiegelman's "Maus," and works of fiction and poetry by writers without…

Every year, historians in the United States attend the American Historical Association (AHA), a conference that has met annually since 1884. The AHA draws scholars from all specializations, and it is the primary organization through which the profession is represented. In 1969, the conference met at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. At…

History instructors working in a community college face two major challenges. First, to make history interesting and relevant to the students, many of whom have to take history courses as a requirement. And second, to fulfill one of the missions of a community college which is to forge a connection between the school and the people in the local…

This paper examines the ways in which high school Canadian history textbooks authorized from 1945 to the present have represented national participation in wars and peace-making/keeping operations. I explore how national mythologies of Canada as a kinder, more tolerant, or less violent national body permeate the narratives of national history…