Two Words, One Answer.
Years War
 Everyday Life: World War 1 (Everyday Life (Good Year Books)) $12.95 I purchased Everyday Life in World War I for use in a middle-school aged homeschoolers' study of the decades of the twentieth century, one of a dozen or so books on the subject we're using. The first thing that struck me about this book is the disparity between the reading level of the text and the difficulty level of the included activities, many of which are simplistic (and very short) true-false, fill in the blank or vocabulary lists. Several of the included activities are remarkable mainly for the odd point of view that they present. Let me give you a couple of examples. The one activity about the home front in WWI asks students to imagine a conversation between two German women standing in line at a bakery that runs out of bread. (What about the innocent Belgian women standing in line at a bakery, or conditions on the homefront in the UK or the USA?) Similarly, students are asked to write a letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge disputing his opposition to Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations. This is the sole mention of Senator Lodge in the book and nowhere are his (or anyone else's) reasons for opposing the League of Nations mentioned, other than a "spirit of isolationism." The author apparently believes that there is no valid point of view that might oppose a League of Nations - and makes that exceedingly clear to the student. In other venues, this one-sided presentation might be called "propaganda." Many of the geopolitical problems in our world today can be traced directly back to World War I and the treaties that ended the war. The subject deserves far better treatment than it receives from the pen of Walter Hazen, even at the middle school level. The Yanks are Coming: The United States in the First World War is a much more balanced presentation in the same price range, one that I would highly recommend. Marrin, Professor Emeritus and former chairman of the history department at Yeshiva University, has for many years specialized in writing history for younger students. His work is highly accurate and invariably engaging, even riveting. You will, however, have to come up with your own vocabulary lists and true-false questions.  The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Two - The War Years $129.99 I loved this series as a kid! This version isn't quite what I watched as a teen; George Lucas had them re-cut for the DVD and they run in chronological order now. The series as aired had bits with "contemporary Indy-- AKA early 90s Indy" who is no longer present in this version. Each disk has an approximately 1 1/2 hour story cut from two episodes of the series as aired. Nevertheless this is an outstanding series. Excellent production values and compelling storytelling make this series very watchable. Each disk also contains several documentaries about the subject of the story and the historical figures in it. I was genuinely fascinated by most of these; this is an era I didn't really know all that much about. |
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