Podcasts – Teaching American History

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tah-podcasts/CDC+Podcasts/CDC+Keene+WW2.mp3 | Open Player in New Window Today’s podcast includes an interview with Dr. Jennifer Keene, of Chapman University and president of the Society for Military History. Dr. Keene is the volume editor for our new World War 2 Core American Documents volume, and has some interesting things to say about how she went about selecting documents, trying to keep the number and length manageable, while trying to do such an enormous event as WW2, from multiple perspectives, the justice it deserves. This volume of our Core American Documents Collections – World War 2 – is now available! Get your copy on iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Hard copies are also available for $10 each – email dmitchell@tah.org if you would like a copy. You can also buy it on Amazon! As in the other volumes, each Core Documents volume will contain the following: Key documents on the period, theme, or institution, selected by an expert and reviewed by an editorial board An introduction highlighting key documents and themes A thematic table of contents, showing the connections between various documents Study questions for each document, as well as questions that refer to other documents in the collection Notes on each document to identify people, events, movements, or ideas to improve understanding of the document’s historical context. When complete, the series will be comprehensive and authoritative, and will present America’s story in the words of those who wrote it – all united in their commitment to equality and liberty, yet so often divided by their different understandings of these most fundamental American ideas. In sum, our intent is that the documents and their supporting material provide unique access to the richness of the American story. We hope that you will find this resource to be intriguing and helpful for your classroom. Please contact Daniel Mitchell if you have any questions or would like more information about using the Core Documents Curriculum in your classroom. Thank you for all that you do!

The last episode in TAH.org's 2017-18 Documents in Detail webinar series, focused on Ronald Reagan's 1964 "A Time for Choosing" speech. Often referred to as "The Speech," is was a persuasive, articulate, and powerful endorsement of then-Republican presidential candidate Senator Barry Goldwater, and despite Goldwater's loss that November, helped to propel Reagan to the forefront of national politics, keeping him in the public eye as he sought and won the governorship of California, went on to unsuccessfully challenge sitting Republican President Gerald Ford for his party's nomination in 1976, and eventually win the presidency in 1980. Access the full episode archive Tunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Documents in Detail: A Time for Choosing appeared first on Teaching American History.

The latest volumes of our Core American Documents Collections – Documents and Debates – are now available! TAH.org and professors Rob McDonald and LTC Seanegan Sculley from the History Department at the United States Military Academy at West Point worked together to create a two-volume set of documents readers, which starting in Fall 2018, will be used by all West Point cadets in their two-semester American History survey course. These volumes are structured around a series of topics, each based on a debatable question. For each topic there is a collection of documents that, together, form the basis of argument over that topic - from those who debated it at a given point in American history. For example, students will have the opportunity to understand why and how FDR and his administration made a case for Social Security, and will also read reasoned arguments against the program. The goal is to explore a series of critical moments in American history by asking questions for which there are not simple yes/no answers, but instead call for informed discussion and rational debate - where answers can be said to be valid, but not necessarily wrong or right. These readers also include appendices of additional documents, and together are a perfect fit for any American History survey course, including AP United States History. Available Now! Volume 1: 1493-1865: iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Volume 2: 1865-2009: iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Download both volumes - PDF here Hard copies are also available for $10 each – email dmitchell@tah.org if you would like to place an order. "Learning about history is not only about learning content - it's about learning skills..." Listen to today's podcast: The post Core American Documents: Documents and Debates appeared first on Teaching American History.

The latest volumes of  our Core American Documents Collections – Documents and Debates – are now available! TAH.org and professors Rob McDonald and LTC Seanegan Sculley from the History Department at the United States Military Academy at West Point worked together to create a two-volume set of documents readers, which starting in Fall 2018, will be used by all West Point cadets in their two-semester American History survey course. These volumes are structured around a series of topics, each based on a debatable question. For each topic there is a collection of documents that, together, form the basis of argument over that topic - from those who debated it at a given point in American history. For example, students will have the opportunity to understand why and how FDR and his administration made a case for Social Security, and will also read reasoned arguments against the program. The goal is to explore a series of critical moments in American history by asking questions for which there are not simple yes/no answers, but instead call for informed discussion and rational debate - where answers can be said to be valid, but not necessarily wrong or right. These readers also include appendices of additional documents, and together are a perfect fit for any American History survey course, including AP United States History. Available Now! Volume 1: 1493-1865: iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Volume 2: 1865-2009: iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Download both volumes - PDF here Hard copies are also available for $10 each – email dmitchell@tah.org if you would like to place an order. "Learning about history is not only about learning content - it's about learning skills..." Listen to today's podcast: As in the other volumes, each Core Documents volume will contain the following: Key documents on the period, theme, or institution, selected by an expert and reviewed by an editorial board An introduction highlighting key documents and themes A thematic table of contents, showing the connections between various documents Study questions for each document, as well as questions that refer to other documents in the collection Notes on each document to identify people, events, movements, or ideas to improve understanding of the document’s historical context. When complete, the series will be comprehensive and authoritative, and will present America’s story in the words of those who wrote it – all united in their commitment to equality and liberty, yet so often divided by their different understandings of these most fundamental American ideas. In sum, our intent is that the documents and their supporting material provide unique access to the richness of the American story. We hope that you will find this resource to be intriguing and helpful for your classroom. Please contact Daniel Mitchell if you have any questions or would like more information about using the Core Documents Curriculum in your classroom. Thank you for all that you do! Sign up for early access to each upcoming volume! The post Core Documents: 2 Volume “Documents and Debates” now available appeared first on Teaching American History.

TAH.org's last Saturday Webinar for the 2017-18 school year, today we focused on the 444 day long crisis in which 52 American embassy workers were taken hostage by Iranian revolutionaries and held for over a year, bringing to a head conflict between that country's new rulers and the United States, and likely contributing to the downfall of President Jimmy Carter. Relevant to the ongoing friction and sometimes hostility between the quasi-theocracy of Iran and the United States, this crisis ended with Ronald Reagan's inauguration as president in January 1981, and has had ripples and repercussions since. Access the archive page here iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Saturday Webinar: Iran Hostage Crisis appeared first on Teaching American History.

Today's Documents in Detail webinar focused on Dr. Martin Luther King jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech," which was delivered on the heels of a Congressional filibuster that had been started to block civil rights legislation. With input from our two scholars and moderator, we explored the ideas expressed in the speech, language employed, reception and meaning of the seminal piece, and took a number of interesting questions from our teacher audience. Access the full program archive page Tunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Documents in Detail: MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech appeared first on Teaching American History.

The latest volume of  our Core American Documents Collections – the Cold War – is now available! Get your copy on iTunes, Kindle, and PDF. Hard copies are also available for $10 each – email dmitchell@tah.org if you would like a copy, or you can buy it on Amazon. Sign up for early access to each upcoming volume! What does the man on the moon and high school teachers having to take loyalty oaths have in common? Listen to today's podcast and find out... Today's podcast includes a conversation with David Krugler, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville about his work as volume editor for our newest Core American Documents volume, the Cold War. In it, David talks about the Cold War, the documents he selected and how, and some interesting experiences he had in the creation of the volume. As in the other volumes, each Core Documents volume will contain the following: Key documents on the period, theme, or institution, selected by an expert and reviewed by an editorial board An introduction highlighting key documents and themes A thematic table of contents, showing the connections between various documents Study questions for each document, as well as questions that refer to other documents in the collection Notes on each document to identify people, events, movements, or ideas to improve understanding of the document’s historical context. When complete, the series will be comprehensive and authoritative, and will present America’s story in the words of those who wrote it – all united in their commitment to equality and liberty, yet so often divided by their different understandings of these most fundamental American ideas. In sum, our intent is that the documents and their supporting material provide unique access to the richness of the American story. We hope that you will find this resource to be intriguing and helpful for your classroom. Please contact Daniel Mitchell if you have any questions or would like more information about using the Core Documents Curriculum in your classroom. Thank you for all that you do! The post Fifth Volume of Core Documents Collection – The Cold War Now Available! appeared first on Teaching American History.

TAH.org's 7 APril 2018 Saturday Webinar was about Watergate, and the ensuing political and seeming constitutional crisis that ensued. Panelists discussed the background of the break-in that led to the crisis, but also talked a great deal about Nixon's background, his views on Democrats and other Republicans, and how his experiences and personality contributed to his actions as president. Questions from teachers included those about presidential powers as related to subpoenas, how precedents established played out during the Clinton impeachment incident in the late 1990s, and some about pardon powers and their extent. And how to Congressional investigations differ from criminal ones? Access the full archive page here. iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Saturday Webinars: Watergate appeared first on Teaching American History.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tah-podcasts/CDC+Podcasts/CDC+Tucker+Whole+Series+Interview.mp3 | Open Player in New Window TAH.org is publishing over 40 individual volumes in our Core American Documents series, with four volumes already available as of today. In addition to the individual volumes, we are going provide a companion podcast interview of the editor of each volume, in which we’ll talk about the sorts of documents that were included, things to look out for among them, and commentary on the topic at hand. To kick off this series of interviews, which will be published through our podcast feed (iTunes and via RSS) at least monthly, we have today an interview with Dr. David Tucker, General Editor of the series, who talks about how the series is being put together, what can be found in each volume, and how teachers and students can access the volumes in different formats, both print and digital.

Wednesday 21 March's webinar focused on the Long Telegram, the famous George Kennan communique from Moscow in 1946, on which so much of American foreign policy after World War 2 was based. Scholars discussed the origins of the telegram, the context around events in Moscow and Washington in the year after the war, and why Kennan wrote it in the first place. They discussed how the U.S. government received the news from Kennan, as well as how Kennan framed and explained himself over time, even to the point of seemingly contradicting commonly-held views of the meaning of his point. Access the program archive page here iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Document in Detail: The Long Telegram appeared first on Teaching American History.

Saturday, 3 March 2018's TAH.org teacher webinar was about Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. The violent response to a peaceful Civil Rights march on 7 March 1965, televised and immortalized in pictures, helped to spotlight the injustice of segregation and racially discriminatory systems of law and social norms found throughout the South at the time. Although other crises in this series were political or security-focused in nature, what happened in Selma has a far more distinctly moral crisis, as it was made so clear that many Americans were not enjoying the same rights as others, and that the promises of the Declaration of Independence were, clearly, not yet fulfilled. The event itself was discussed in detail and contextualized alongside other major moments and ideas from the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s. Suggestions for additional reading: Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King, jr. Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968, Steve Lawson, Charles Payne Access the full archive page here. iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS   The post Saturday Webinar: Bloody Sunday in Selma, AL appeared first on Teaching American History.

TeachingAmericanHistory.org's Documents in Detail webinar for Wednesday, 21 FEB 2018 focused on FDR's Commonwealth Club Address, seen as his closing argument to America late in the 1932 election campaign, and as the foundational document for understanding his policies and actions as president. Access the full archive page here. iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Documents in Detail: FDR’s Commonwealth Club Address appeared first on Teaching American History.

Dr. Gordon Lloyd visited Dr. Jeff Sikkenga's class at Pepperdine University in early February 2018 to talk about the origins of the Bill of Rights, with particular focus on the First Amendment, and the two religion clauses. Dr. Lloyd also used his online exhibit on the Bill of Rights to help students dig deeply into the documentary and historical origins of the rights protected in the Bill of Rights. The post Special Video Presentation: Gordon Lloyd at Pepperdine on the Bill of Rights appeared first on Teaching American History.

TAH.org's 3 FEB 18 Saturday Webinar looked deeply into the Cuban Missile Crisis, the '13 days' during which the world seemed to teeter on the bring of nuclear war. How did this crisis come into being? How was evidence of the missiles discovered, and verified? What was the nature of the crisis - that is, were there people within JFK's inner circle who saw it differently than it is typically portrayed? How did the upcoming midterm elections factor into decision-making and internal analysis by Kennedy and his people? How did JFK's experience from the Bay of Pigs impact his view on Cuba? And what impact did the crisis have on Castro's control over Cuba? Our panelists dug into these questions and others, working with a live audience of over 100 teachers from across the country. The following books were recommended for additional reading: "One Hell of a Gamble," Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali We Now Know, John Lewis Gaddis Access the full archive page here Register for future episodes iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Saturday Webinar: The Cuban Missile Crisis appeared first on Teaching American History.

TR's New Nationalism speech was the focus on 24 January's Documents in Detail webinar. The importance of the political context around the speech - trends in Republican politics, recent electoral results - were discussed, as well as the meaning of the location of TR's speech. Roosevelt's rhetoric and attempts to take hold of the 'mantle of Lincoln' in the speech were also discussed in detail. Also discussed were TR's audience, and how his message and wording were tailored for them. Questions included those about TR's views of Woodrow Wilson's presidency and the place of the Panama Canal in popular opinion, taken alongside this speech and its message. Access this program’s archive page here. Register for future episodes iTunes Podcast Podcast RSS The post Documents in Detail: Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism speech appeared first on Teaching American History.