Everything has a history," the American Historical Association tells us. In order to understand why something is the way it is today, we need to understand how it began and how it got to be this way. This seems so obvious to historians that they are surprised to find not everyone thinks like this. Historical reasoning needs to be taught. We begin by looking at the ways that historians formulate questions, evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. And the fact that something was not "always this way" means it can change. Understanding history is thus also essential to active citizenship. We will explore various styles of historical writing applied to case studies. Topics will be drawn from US and European history Keywords:history, United States, Europe, World War II
- Teacher: James Wald