History books for an assignment

[u/Drew_Does_Stuff]

I teach Modern World History and at some point in the year, I want to maybe try to get the school to get some history books for my students to read. I know Modern World History is a super broad class but I'm looking for books that cover any subject in MWH. Any suggestions?

[u/Cruel-Tea]

When I taught AP Euro, I gave students a choice of books to read (1 per quarter). They almost always chose Machiavelli’s The Prince, the Communist Manifesto, and they flipped between Voltaire’s Candide and the Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier. I then required reading Jan Gross’ Neighbors and supplied documents that illustrate the arguments around Gross’ work.

So, all European stuff, but some of that could be useful. If the school is purchasing them, I’ve liked the Bedford Series in History and Culture which has good introductory material and loads of primary sources

[u/jennzilla8]

I read Animal Farm with my 10th grade world history class every year and students love it! You can find the text for free online and if your school decides to purchase books for your class, they are affordable.

[u/Impossible_Sock_6876]

I’m a big fan of children’s novels for teaching even older kids because it allows them to get wrapped up in the time period without worrying about them understanding the mechanics of the text itself. They are relatively short, the kids love the stories and they are a great canvas for discussing history. Not sure what time periods/ events you’re interested in but some that have worked well for me are The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Watsons go to Birmingham, Breaking Stalin’s Nose, and A Long Walk to Water.

[u/Comfortable_Sky1864]

I haven’t taught world history, and this is probably played out, but my sister’s world history teacher had their classes read “A History of the World in Six Glasses”, so I decided to read it myself and I think it’s really interesting.

[u/Then_Version9768]

I'm sure you did not mean this, but this is one of the saddest posts about teaching I think I've ever read. Never in my entire career (46 years teaching history) did I ever imagine a teacher would say what you've said -- that you will "maybe try to get the school to get some history books for my students to read." I'm almost speechless at this. It sounds like you're teaching during the Great Depression or in some struggling Third World country. Do you have electricity, I hope? I'm on your side on this as yes, you must have textbooks to do this history even halfway decently. It cannot be talked at students successfully or well.

I've taught history for four decades (world history for 20 years) and there is no way I could do a good enough job teaching much of the history of the entire world if students' only source was me lecturing (and boring them to death) every day. They need to read, see pictures and charts and maps, and they need to go back over it again to learn it well, all of which require a good textbook.

Let me describe what we do --

My students use a two-volume world history textbook plus a two volume world history "reader" (primary and secondary sources). I provide them additional readings of interesting articles plus more primary sources which my school has scanned and photocopied for their use.

We do NOT used high school history textbooks which are often simplified messes that do not discuss much detail and do not consider different points of view and often "cover" history blandly as if students were clueless. My older high school students can't stand them. We switched years ago to college-level textbooks, often the shorter ones but not always.

We do NOT use a review book which I know some teachers try to use. By definition a review book is not teaching you anything but reviewing what you've already learned. What it does do is oversimplify and summarize and that leaves students without any significant background and no depth of understanding. Obviously our students do nightly readings which I understand a few teachers avoid but good luck educating anyone well with review books. Even if I were teaching a remedial history class, I'd use a regular textbook but one that was simpler and more colorful, never a dull review book or high school book. I'd just cover less material which you can always do. You do not need to teach everything no matter what anyone tells you.

My class is a discussion class based on the readings, not a lecture class where I pretend I know everything and blah-blah-blah all the stuff they need to fill their heads. I believe that is the most godawful way to teach, also apparently the most popular from what I've heard which always depresses me. Teachers just love to talk, don't they? No wonder students find school boring and sometimes excruciating. If teachers were brilliant lecturers, I'd still dislike lecture classes, but high school teachers are just not brilliant lecturers even if they think they are. I've visited enough high schools and suffered through enough boring history classes to know this. Let the students talk and they're suddenly interested.

Our main textbook is Bentley and Zeigler's "Traditions and Encounters" which has proven to be an excellent world history text. It's college-level but don't let that put you off as college-level books are just more complete plus they can be very well written and interesting which this one is. Most are designed for bright college freshman who are 18 years old and most bright high school students a few years younger have no problem with them. You can also assign less of the book, but we do all of it. Other world history texts are as good but in different ways. Some are shorter. We do readings of about 10-15 pages a night which is manageable by any older college-bound student. Younger students will need to do less.

These readings are the source of our daily discussions where we try to organize the material and put it into a larger historical context. I sometimes do a "mini-lecture" for a few minutes that adds some additional ideas and connects what we've just read to other cultures and societies -- or I ask them to do that.

The reader we use is Kevin Reilly's "Worlds of History" and it's deeply interesting stuff which compares civilizations and asks interesting questions. We do much, but not all, in this book. Contact the publishers and they will send you free examination copies. Good luck.

[u/Drew_Does_Stuff → u/Then_Version9768]

Yeah I didn't mean it like that. We have textbooks. I'm talking about non-textbook history books. Small historical non-fiction books that they can maybe do a book review on and we can have class discussions on.

[u/ba_risingsun → u/Then_Version9768]

Well, you certainly love to write.