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Editorial
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Welcome
to World History Connected. While most WHC issues focus
on a particular theme, we often receive outstanding work which will not
fit inside a thematic box. Just for such work, we prepare a potpourri. This
issue is our latest mix: a rich selection of essays, reviews, and commentaries
that speak to a wide range of concerns important to world history instructors.
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We begin
with two particularly provocative essays. In "American Students and Global
Issues", Peter Stearns stresses the urgency of expanding world history education
in the United States. Eva-Maria Swidler, however, takes a different approach.
After some years of teaching world history, Swidler has returned to her
academic roots. In "Defending Western Civ", she reports on the unexpected
rewards of doing so. |
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Here
too are six fresh approaches to teaching world history. Commodore Matthew
Perry's 1854 expedition to Japan has long been a staple of United States
surveys; Joan Mortenson shows how this episode can serve world history students.
Thomas Sanders also turns the U.S. curriculum outward, focusing on Benjamin
Franklin's international significance. Justin Reich starts more recently,
arguing that contemporary issues can provide students the most compelling
entrée to historical study. Students will, Reich believes, benefit from
walking with us from the present into the past. Finally, Maryanne Rhett
and Aaron Whelchel each explore innovative teaching resources. Rhett's focus
is the graphic novel. This genre, once associated with comic books, now
includes such historically resonant works as Art Spiegelman's Maus,
Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde.
Rhett shows how such sources can better serve our classroom goals. Whelchel
introduces recent developments in historical simulation and video gaming.
If you last looked at interactive historical simulations back when SimCity
and Oregon Trail were new, you are in for some real surprises.
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As always,
WHC's regular features provide ample opportunity to reflect on
curriculum and methods. In his thoughtful essay, guest columnist Zenon Wasyliw's
puts revolution at the center of the world history curriculum. James Diskant,
in the third installment of his series on world history and local community,
explains how he's provoked students to discuss the consequences of changing
cultural and political values. Tom Laichas assesses the impact of history,
reason, and the "empire of fact" on modern schooling. Wendy Eagan presents
visual sources that challenge students to compare Islam, Christianity and
Judaism. Finally, Fritz Umbach reviews four films for classroom use, the
first such reviews in World History Connected. |
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With
this issue WHC again adds to a growing list of articles, reviews,
interviews, and columns. You can search them all from any page in WHC.
In addition, we invite you to browse WHC's back issues, available
from the History Cooperative via our home page; look under "Archives". |
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Tom Laichas, Co-editor
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