A History of US

Last updated
A History of US
A History of US.png
Author Joy Hakim
SubjectUnited States History
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication date
1995 (1st ed.)

A History of US is a ten-volume (and one sourcebook) historical book series for children, written by Joy Hakim and first published in its entirety in 1995. The series is published by the US branch of Oxford University Press and is currently in its third edition. Originally conceived as a trade children's series, the books quickly found fans among classroom teachers; in response to the prompting of educators Oxford University Press developed ancillary teaching materials to accompany the series. Branded as 'alternatives to traditional textbooks' the series is regularly used in both public and private schools, usually in middle school classes. The books are all written in a personal tone, as if the author were a storyteller. The texts have been released to ample praise by teachers, home-schoolers, students, and many others. The series has won the James A. Michener Award in Writing and the Parent's Choice Gold Award.

Contents

Content

The books are titled:

  1. The First Americans: Prehistory–1600
  2. Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600–1740
  3. From Colonies to Country: 1735–1791
  4. The New Nation: 1789–1850
  5. Liberty for All? 1820–1860
  6. War, Terrible War: 1855–1865
  7. Reconstructing America: 1865–1890
  8. An Age of Extremes: 1880–1917
  9. War, Peace, And All That Jazz: 1918–1945
  10. All the People: Since 1945

The eleventh volume is a sourcebook and index, containing full text of the primary sources—usually government documents, speeches, or famous writings—referenced throughout the series and words.

Reception

The series won the James A. Michener Award in Writing from the National Council of the Social Studies in 1997 and the Parents' Choice Gold Award in 1995 for a Reference book for ages 9–12. The series has sold millions of copies and was accepted as a textbook in several U.S. states. [1] David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of history books, praised A History of US before a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in 2005. [2]

Although it has received positive reviews from most people, some conservative critics have alleged that the works are politically-biased. [3]

A series of reviews in 2000–2001 in The Textbook Letter, a publication of the Textbook League, criticized various aspects of the first two books of A History of US. In a review of volume 2, Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600–1740, Alice Whealey noted many claims regarding the history of Western civilization as erroneous, focusing on republicanism, Moorish Spain, and Abrahamic religious stories presented as fact. [4] Also regarding volume 2, Earl Hautala wrote that Hakim's inclusion of the Bible stories of Abraham and Moses is unjustified and incorrect from both a Biblical and a non-Biblical perspective. [5] William J. Bennetta argued that volume 1, The First Americans: Prehistory–1600, presented a politicized multicultural view of early history. [6] A Portland Oregon parent brought serious concerns to her school district regarding the dehumanizing portrayal of slaves and the minimization of the suffering of Indigenous peoples during the chapters covering colonization. [7]

Adaptation

A television miniseries titled Freedom: A History of US was aired on PBS in 2003. [8]

Voice cast

Hosted by Katie Couric. the series featured an ensemble voice cast playing multiple historical and fictional characters throughout the show's run. The cast included: [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James A. Michener</span> American author (1907–1997)

James Albert Michener was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club. He was also known for the meticulous research that went into his books.

<i>Centennial</i> (novel) Novel by James A. Michener

Centennial is a novel by American author James A. Michener, published in 1974. It traces the history of the plains of north-east Colorado from prehistory until the mid-1970s. Geographic details about the fictional town of Centennial and its surroundings indicate that the region is in modern Weld County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Elizabeth Price</span> American painter

Mary Elizabeth Price, also known as M. Elizabeth Price, was an American Impressionist painter. She was an early member of the Philadelphia Ten, organizing several of the group's exhibitions. She steadily exhibited her works with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and other organizations over the course of her career. She was one of the several family members who entered the field of art as artists, dealers, or framemakers.

Joy Hakim is an American author who has written a ten-volume history of the United States, A History of US, and Freedom: A History of US, all published by Oxford University Press. Hakim is also the author of The Story of Science, three volumes co-published by Smithsonian Books and the National Science Teachers Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. C. Majumdar</span> Indian historian and academic (1888–1980)

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was an Indian historian and professor known for promoting Hindu nationalist views. He principally studied the history of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George van Driem</span> Dutch linguist

George "Sjors" van Driem is a Dutch professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Bern. He studied East Asian languages and is known for the father tongue hypothesis.

Japanese history textbook controversies involve controversial content in government-approved history textbooks used in the secondary education of Japan. The controversies primarily concern the nationalist right efforts to whitewash the actions of the Empire of Japan during World War II.

A controversy in the US state of California concerning the portrayal of Hinduism in history textbooks began in 2005. The Texas-based Vedic Foundation (VF) and the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF), complained to California's Curriculum Commission, arguing that the coverage in sixth grade history textbooks of Indian history and Hinduism was biased against Hinduism; points of contention included a textbook's portrayal of the caste system, the Indo-Aryan migration theory, and the status of women in Indian society.

Bias in curricula refers to real or perceived bias in educational textbooks.

<i>Lies My Teacher Told Me</i> 1995 book by sociologist James W. Loewen

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is a 1995 book by James W. Loewen that critically examines twelve popular American high school history textbooks. In the book, Loewen concludes that the textbook authors propagate false, Eurocentric, and mythologized views of American history. In addition to his critique of the dominant historical themes presented in high school textbooks, Loewen presents themes from history that he believes should be presented in high school textbooks.

Love Won Out was an ex-gay ministry launched in 1998 by Focus on the Family, an American conservative Christian organization. It was taken over by Exodus International in 2009 and then shut down at the same time Exodus International was disbanded, in 2013.

Thomas Jefferson's involvement with and support of education is best known through his founding of the University of Virginia, which he established in 1819 as a secular institution after he left the presidency of the United States. Jefferson believed that libraries and books were so integral to individual and institutional education that he designed the university around its library.

The National Institute of Korean History is a South Korean government organization in charge of researching, collecting, compiling, and promoting materials related to Korean history. It was established as the Office of National History in March 1946, one year after the liberation of Korea. It changed its name to the current form in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abeka</span> Publisher of Christian curricula

Abeka Book, LLC, known as A Beka Book until 2017, is an American publisher affiliated with Pensacola Christian College (PCC) that produces K-12 curriculum materials that are used by Christian schools and homeschooling families around the world. It is named after Rebekah Horton, wife of college president Arlin Horton. By the 1980s, Abeka and BJU Press were the two major publishers of Christian-based educational materials in America. Its books have been criticized for lack of academic rigor and misinformation on scientific and historical subjects.

Alice Whealey is an independent historian specializing in the intellectual history of Europe, she received an M.A. in history in 1988, a M.A. in Demography in 1992, and Ph.D. in history in 1998 from U.C. Berkeley.

The Louisiana Science Education Act, Act 473 (SB733) of 2008 is a controversial anti-evolution law passed by the Louisiana Legislature on June 11, 2008 and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on June 25. The act allows public school teachers to use supplemental materials in the science classroom which are critical of scientific theories such as evolution and global warming and to promote creationism as science. Louisiana was the first state to have passed a law of this type.

History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond is a series of social studies and history textbooks published by Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks</span> American historian

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is an American historian and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Department of History. She describes herself as wearing "... two hats, one as a historian of early modern Europe and the other as a world/global historian, with a primary focus on women, gender, and sexuality within these". She has taught and published in European history, world history, and history pedagogy, and served as the President of the Sixteenth Century Society, the Society for Reformation Research, The Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender, and the World History Association.

The African-American Baseline Essays are a series of educational materials commissioned in 1987 by the Portland public school district in Portland, Oregon and compiled by Asa Grant Hilliard III, intended to "provide information about the history, culture, and contributions of Africans and African-Americans in the disciplines of Art, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Music," to "be used by teachers and other District staff as a reference and resource just as adopted textbooks and other resources are used" as part of "a huge multicultural curriculum-development effort."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censorship of school curricula in the United States</span> Suppression or prohibition of various topics in US schools

Throughout the history of the United States, various topics have been censored and banned in education, including teaching about evolution, racism, sexism, sex education, and LGBTQ+ topics. Due to the federal system of the country being highly decentralized, states are delegated with much of the responsibility for administering public education, and it is often governments of the red states that have enacted such policies.

References

  1. May, Michael (September 13, 2002). "Making Everyone Happy: The state textbook review process blends homogenized boredom". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  2. "U.S. History: Our Worst Subject?". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. June 30, 2005. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  3. Ravitch, Diane (2003). The Language Police. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 100–104. ISBN   0-375-41482-7.
  4. Whealey, Alice. "Joy Hakim Should Not Write About the History of Europe". The Textbook Letter. 12 (1). Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 2008-04-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Hautala, Earl (March–April 2000). "Textbook-Writers Promote Religious Tales as "History"". The Textbook Letter. 11 (1). Archived from the original on December 15, 2001.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. Bennetta, William J. (March–April 2000). "Multi-Culti Joy". The Textbook Letter. 11 (1). Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-03-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. Jensen, Latisha (2021-03-03). "A Portland Parent Found Her Daughter's Textbook Racist. Her Teacher Has a Contract That Says He Could Use It Anyway". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  8. 1 2 "Freedon: A History of US: Television Credits". WNET . Retrieved 17 November 2022.