At the 2018 meeting of the American Historical Association, The University of Chicago Press launched the inaugural edition of "Building the American Republic," the publisher's new textbook authored by Harry L. Watson and Jane Dailey. The book is published using an emerging model in textbook publishing, in which the digital edition of the…

Since the late 1960s, the fields of indigenous and environmental history have boomed. In the United States these large, nuanced, and often-overlapping historiographies have provided college educators with enormous scope to re-evaluate the past and contextualize contemporary political and social issues related to Native peoples and the environment.…

For The past two years, Siena College and Loyola International College for Diversity and Sustainability (LCDS), formerly Loyola International College, have jointly taught a comparative Canadian/ U.S. history class. Concordia University, an English language university, has more than 46,000 students and offers 433 undergraduate and graduate…

This study emphasizes an often overlooked avenue of inquiry in the increasingly escalating textbook debate: What is the relationship between the instructor, the students, and the assigned text? And correspondingly, how does one go about analyzing this crucial relationship? Over the past two years, Ryan Swanson gathered data from 549 students in…

Service-learning as a pedagogical approach has become a popular trend in undergraduate teaching. according to Robert Bringle and Julie Hatcher, service-learning is a "course-based, credit-bearing educational experience that allows students to (a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (b)…

Why history is useful to decision makers in business is discussed, and a graduate level course that teaches the uses of history in decision making to Masters of Business Administration students is described. Student and faculty evaluations of the course have been overwhelmingly positive. Areas that need improvement are discussed. (RM)

Examines four representative U.S. history textbooks dealing with science and technology. Finds that these books omitted the sources, authors, and context of scientific and technological events, and stressed instead their social and economic impact. Proposes ways to restructure history textbooks. (KO)

Discusses problems with military documentation during the Vietnam War. Reports poor record keeping practices, destruction of permanent files, and mislabeled and missing records. Describes the National Archives' Vietnam project that organized and preserved the remaining military records. Concludes that the Vietnam War was better documented than the…

Recommends that teachers present the years 1000 to 1750 as the "Traditional Europe" period, rather than as a combination of several periods. Identifies shared religious, intellectual, and artistic traditions; landed aristocracy; a peasant economic base; and an urban mercantile class as the era's distinctive characteristics. (DK)

Discusses the lack of teacher training provided for teaching assistants in history departments. Argues that emphasis on research and publication is misplaced because most new Ph.D.s will be teaching rather than publishing. Urges teacher training to prepare graduate students for their chosen profession and to improve undergraduate education. (DK)

Describes the problem of absence of evidence in historiography. Discusses the limits this lack of evidence poses for comparative studies by sociologists. Identifies steps in which events or evidence may be missed or passed over. Includes nonoccurrence, no surviving evidence, unlocated evidence, failure to note evidence, inaccurate criticism of…

Discusses the television series "Victory at Sea" and "The World at War" and their use in teaching about World War II. Contrasts that war's glorious portrayal in "Victory at Sea" with the more ambiguous presentation of "The World at War." Suggests that students can learn a great deal about war and film itself…

Offers background information on the formation of comparative religion. Demonstrates that the world religion approach is inadequate by examining case studies of Mithraism, Santeria, Mormonism, and Baha'i to illustrate the shortcomings of this approach. Advocates the use of an ethnic versus evangelical religion approach to teaching global…