American History, A HomeSchool Guide, from the Beginning to 1876 by Wight Martindale Jr., is both a one-year high school course and a thoughtful review of our earliest years which can be enjoyed by a general reader.
The foundational text is Paul Johnson’s magisterial 1,100 A History of the American People, a study including hundreds of end notes but far too long for most high school programs today. The book is intended to cover the first year of a two year history survey.Martindale believes that the creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures, that no other national history holds such tremendous lessons both for Americans and for the rest of the world.
All nations are born in war, conquest, and crime, usually concealed by the obscurity of a distant past. But the United States established itself in the full gaze of recorded history with its stains visible for all to see and censure. Important questions are raised.First, can a nation rise above the injustices of its origins and by its moral purpose and performance, atone for them? Second, can its ideals and altruism–the desire to build the perfect community–be mixed successfully with acquisitiveness and ambition, without which no dynamic society can be built at all?
Third, while the earliest Americans aimed to build an otherworldly “City on a Hill” they found themselves designing a republic of all the people. Have they made good on their audacious claims? Have they indeed proved exemplars for humanity?
We must not forget that the establishment of the United States was the work of the best and the brightest of the entire European continent. Settlement began in the 17th century, a turning point in western history, the time of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) when all Europe was transformed forever. The men who came to America were greedy, but they were also idealists–they thought they could transform the world for the better. And why did the British prevail? The Portuguese were first, followed by the Spanish and the French. The book explores this question.
The book also encourages a better way to study history. There are two broad approaches, Ex Post and Ex Ante. The first looks at an historical event and immediately draw it into the present. So you might look at President Roosevelt’s News Deal of the 1930s and draw comparisons with today’s large and active central government providing social security and other benefits to its citizens. This is the way most high school history is taught today.
Ex Ante means that you look back at the historical moment and examine what came before the event and try to understand why people behaved the way they did. What choices did they have? The present doesn’t matter. So in the example of FDR you might look at Herbert Hoover’s presidency, the problems Hoover faced and how he dealt with them. You ask, what kind of a man was Roosevelt? Placing yourself in his shoes you would try to understand how and why he did what he did. Who did he draw in for support? Where did he succeed and where did he fail?
This is the way the best historians operate, so this book will follow them.
Martindale’s book includes both a narrative history and over 100 individual classes carefully explained and often illustrated with pictures and maps. There are discussion questions and review quizzes as well. As a study guide the book is designed to draw together a curious student and caring mentor. Is there a happier way to learn anything?
About the Author
Wight Martindale, Jr. has written numerous scholarly articles and three books: We Do It Every Day, a business study of the Levitz Furniture Company, Don Quixote Goes to College, a privately published memoir about his moving from Wall Street (Lehman Brothers) to academia, and Inside the Cage, an account of West Fourth Street’s summer playground basketball tournament, published by Simon & Schuster. He has also written two business case studies–on Bethlehem Steel and Fairchild Publications. All of these are available at Amazon.
Media ContactCompany Name: AMZ Book Publishing SolutionsContact Person: Wight MartindaleEmail: Send EmailCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://americanhistoryhomeschoolguide.com
