Deep and Wide: A Charlotte Mason Education

I stumbled across an interesting train of thought while online looking up something else, as one does.
There's this interesting quote from Henry Fielding’s  History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Before I share that, I should tell you that I loved this passage, but I have to say that none of my children that I recall were ever willing to read more than a few pages of Tom Jones. They thought it was bawdy, unedifying book. Bawdy and ribald it certainly is, but I cannot agree that it is wholy unedifying.    However, children being born persons, I did not mortify them by forcing the issue and making them continue reading.  

I mortified them enough in plenty of other ways.

That said, let me share some food for thought from Fielding's Tom Jones

“To prevent therefore, for the future, such intemperate abuses of leisure, of letters, and of the liberty of the press, especially as the world seems at present to be more than usually threatened with them, I shall here venture to mention some qualifications, every one of which are in a pretty high degree necessary to this order of historians.”

“this order of historians” is writers of plausible fiction, like Tom Jones.  And can I say that the line about how the "world at present" is more than usually threatened with intemperate abuse of the liberty of the press made me giggle.  That was published in 1749. So here are some requirements one should be able to check before writing plausible fiction:

“The first is, genius, without a full vein of which no study, says Horace, can avail us. By genius I would understand that power or rather those powers of the mind, which are capable of penetrating into all things within our reach and knowledge, and of distinguishing their essential differences.These are no other than invention and judgment; and they are both called by the collective name of genius, as they are of those gifts of nature which we bring with us into the world. Concerning each of which many seem to have fallen into very great errors; for by invention, I believe, is generally understood a creative faculty, which would indeed prove most romance writers to have the highest pretensions to it; whereas by invention is really meant no more (and so the word signifies) than discovery, or finding out; or to explain it at large, a quick and sagacious penetration into the true essence of all the objects of our contemplation. This, I think, can rarely exist without the concomitancy of judgment; for how we can be said to have discovered the true essence of two things, without discerning their difference, seems to me hard to conceive. Now this last is the undisputed province of judgment, and yet some few men of wit have agreed with all the dull fellows in the world in representing these two to have been seldom or never the property of one and the same person.”

Emphasis added.  Really, it seems to me, one could live a long, fulfilling, and useful life on the talent of “sagacious penetration into the true essence of all the objects of our contemplation.”

“But though they should be so, they are not sufficient for our purpose, without a good share of learning; for which I could again cite the authority of Horace, and of many others, if any was necessary to prove that tools are of no service to a workman, when they are not sharpened by art, or when he wants rules to direct him in his work, or hath no matter to work upon. All these uses are supplied by learning; for nature can only furnish us with capacity; or, as I have chose to illustrate it, with the tools of our profession; learning must fit them for use, must direct them in it, and, lastly, must contribute part at least of the materials. A competent knowledge of history and of the belles-lettres is here absolutely necessary; and without this share of knowledge at least, to affect the character of an historian, is as vain as to endeavour at building a house without timber or mortar, or brick or stone. Homer and Milton, who, though they added the ornament of numbers to their works, were both historians of our order, were masters of all the learning of their times.”

Emphasis added again.  This is the answer to those who say it doesn’t matter what the children learn so long as they learn how to learn.  It’s nonsense.  Of course it matters what they learn- what they learn will also inform how they learn.  They cannot be separated.  knowing how to learn is something most of us already come equipped with- babies are voracious learners.  Really, what most people mean when they talk about learning how to learn is learning how to use reference materials, how to find things out, and how to remember those things.  But if you aren't learning anything that matters, you just have some pretty tools hanging unused on the clean and shiny walls of your mind.  and the are useless if they are not being used with the real material of solid mind-stuff- history, says Fielding, and the wide field of literature (belles-lettres). 

“Again, there is another sort of knowledge, beyond the power of learning to bestow, and this is to be had by conversation. So necessary is this to the understanding the characters of men, that none are more ignorant of them than those learned pedants whose lives have been entirely consumed in colleges, and among books; for however exquisitely human nature may have been described by writers, the true practical system can be learnt only in the world. Indeed the like happens in every other kind of knowledge. Neither physic nor law are to be practically known from books. Nay, the farmer, the planter, the gardener, must perfect by experience what he hath acquired the rudiments of by reading. How accurately soever the ingenious Mr Miller may have described the plant, he himself would advise his disciple to see it in the garden. As we must perceive, that after the nicest strokes of a Shakespear or a Jonson, of a Wycherly or an Otway, some touches of nature will escape the reader, which the judicious action of a Garrick, of a Cibber, or a Clive, can convey to him; so, on the real stage, the character shows himself in a stronger and bolder light than he can be described. And if this be the case in those fine and nervous descriptions which great authors themselves have taken from life, how much more strongly will it hold when the writer himself takes his lines not from nature, but from books? Such characters are only the faint copy of a copy, and can have neither the justness nor spirit of an original.”

David Garrick, Kitty Clive and Susannah Clibber were all actors.  Shakespeare, Jonson, ycherly and Otway were playrights. Merely reading the lines of a play doesn't give you the insight and depth of character that seeing the play fleshed out by actors, no matter however gifted the dramatist who created those characters may be.

  In addition to book learning, we need the jostling and bumping that comes from real conversations and interactions with real people, with real things, with real work, and exposure ‘in the round’ to the things we study in books.  Life and learning are not confined to school books and school hours. Real life adds depth to our reading, as well, and feeds and nourishes the mind so the imagination (which grows by what it gets and thus expands) can flourish and .  No description of a place can convey the feel of the air, the smell of the place, the knowledge of what it feels like to walk on cobblestones or smell the sea or feel the strength of a tropical sun.  I have never been to the Amazon jungle, but not too long ago when I was reading a description of trying to take notes on paper in a hot, muggy, 100% humidity climate, I was able to picture it clearly because of my time spent living on tropical islands.   Every experience we have also informs other experiences, and reading as well. 

I have read about the division between North and South Korea many times and places.  I’ve seen it on screen.  The deepest impression, however, came from a conversation with a complete  stranger- a South Korean man we met on a bus in Seoul the week that the wall came down in Germany.  His mother had been pregnant with him when North and South Korea were cut off forever- and his father was on the North side.  Father, grandparents, aunts, uncles- and not just paternal relatives, but some of his mother’s people also- all contact suddenly stopped, and at the time I met this man kind enough to stop and explain to a foreigner and her little daughter just what it meant to Koreans to see the fall of the wall dividing two Germanies.

It is truly a thing to marvel and wonder over, when one considers how interconnected it all is- while that conversation made the deepest impression on me, it wouldn’t have been the same without already having some context in which to put the story, and that context at the time came mostly from what I had read.   Mr. Lee’s personal story brought what I knew to life, gave it a face and a real human story- but in order to do that, I had to first have the bones, the form, the structure of the story.

In a different vein, I could read about staining the skin with black walnut in Kipling’s story of Kim, but until I played with black walnuts in my grandfather’s woods as a child and then tried to wash off the stains myself, I did not have a complete understanding.  The story informed my understanding of why my hands were so stained and how many days it took to wash that off, and my experience first hand deepened my understanding of the story as well.  It's reciprocol, it's webbed, it's fractal- it's stunningly beautiful to discover these connections and feed your mind through them.

“Now this conversation in our historian must be universal, that is, with all ranks and degrees of men; for the knowledge of what is called high life will not instruct him in low; nor, e converso, (on the other side- Wendi) will his being acquainted with the inferior part of mankind teach him the manners of the superior. And though it may be thought that the knowledge of either may sufficiently enable him to describe at least that in which he hath been conversant, yet he will even here fall greatly short of perfection; for the follies of either rank do in reality illustrate each other. For instance, the affectation of high life appears more glaring and ridiculous from the simplicity of the low; and again, the rudeness and barbarity of this latter, strikes with much stronger ideas of absurdity, when contrasted with, and opposed to, the politeness which controuls the former. Besides, to say the truth, the manners of our historian will be improved by both these conversations; for in the one he will easily find examples of plainness, honesty, and sincerity; in the other of refinement, elegance, and a liberality of spirit; which last quality I myself have scarce ever seen in men of low birth and education.”

Be willing to learn from and converse with people from all walks of life. Don't look down on people who live in trailer parks or do menial labour - there are things you can learn from them.  Don't look down on millionaires, either.  Treat people as people and be humble enough to be willing to learn something from everybody you know, regardless of race, colour, creed, political spectrum.

Nor will all the qualities I have hitherto given my historian avail him, unless he have what is generally meant by a good heart, and be capable of feeling. The author who will make me weep, says Horace, must first weep himself. In reality, no man can paint a distress well which he doth not feel while he is painting it; nor do I doubt, but that the most pathetic and affecting scenes have been writ with tears. In the same manner it is with the ridiculous. I am convinced I never make my reader laugh heartily but where I have laughed before him; unless it should happen at any time, that instead of laughing with me he should be inclined to laugh at me. Perhaps this may have been the case at some passages in this chapter, from which apprehension I will here put an end to it.

I think what Fielding is saying here is that if you want to write well, you must feel what you want your audience to feel, you must be able to imagine yourself in other's shoes.

. . . Arguments about the relative merits of quite different disciplines seem, for the most part, a waste of time. We need and wish all kinds, for the more complex the discipline, the more likelihood is there that the result will be a many-sided personality--a true citizen of the world. But where the conditions forbid any one of the many doors being opened--for education is largely giving keys into children's hands--then there is apt to be a blasting of some bud, a numbing of some initiative; and a morbid growth."

 J. ARthur Thomson, Parents' Review article

All truth is God's truth.  All is grist for the intellectual mills of those who are humble enough to be teachable, interested, and willing to learn.  And we do not omit subjects for utilitarian reasons or because we haven't found a need to know this.    Education is wide and generous.

Footnotes: Horace: Quintus Horatius Flaccus, December 8, 65 BC-8 BC, born to a freed slave, he became the foremost lyric poet in the time of Emperor Augustus, the same timeframe which saw Rome transfer from a Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

You can find his works to read at Gutenberg, archive.org, free at Amazon, in several different editions and publications for sale, including the gorgeous Loebe Library volume.

The poet Eugene Field translated Horaces Sabine Farm. You can get it free or Gutenberg or for about 3 dollars at Amazon.

$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.  

   
 $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal,   Feed Your Mind!  This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.

 $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!  Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation.   Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.

Picture Study!  Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00

Common Kitchen:  What's for lunch?  Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families?  What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing?  How can I accomplish all those things at once?  We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income.  I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world.  These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids.  Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions.  I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00

Ancient History Study

We did a couple of studies of ancient history with my children when they were younger. By ancient history, of course, I mostly mean what most of us in the West mean- Egypt, Greece and Rome, perhaps a smattering of the Phoenicians. It's interesting that when we speak of ancient history, we are not usually thinking of the incredible advances happening in China and other parts of Asia or the rest of Africa beyond Egypt in ancient times.

That said, the Miller and Synge books below are Western, but also do include more information about the eastern part of the world.   The whole history of Asia is well worth reading as well,  but I can only share what I know, not what I aspire to know.

 We used a lot of different books because I am a reforming book gobbler and too often I stuffed the children’s days with dozens of books and subjected them to death by reading over-load; like drinking from a fire hydrant. Don’t do that. I may have made you laugh, and that is what I meant to do, but I am not kidding.

 Of the books we used, these are the ones that stand out to me as being worth repeating if I were to do ancient history with middle school or below again- not that we’d repeat all of these, because remember what I said about subjecting your kids to an avalanche of books and how, DON’T? I meant it. So, I’d choose from some of these- but I would try to gauge the number of books I chose based on what we and/or independent readers could read and narrate from in just under three hours a day.

  This reading from the books mentioned below isn’t all we’d do- we’d still have math, music, foreign language, poetry (In addition to Home and Virgil, we'd read On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer; Ozymandias), copywork and dictation (dictation for year 4 and up), Bible, picture study, geography, etc, and etc. That’s why the reading plan you create from these books would have to be limited in number and spread out such a way that they could complete it in 3 hours or less in a given day. So much will depend on your family dynamics and the reading levels of your kids.

 History spine, choose from: Greenleaf Press– I really love their guides to famous men of Greek and Rome, their Old Testament study guide, and their Egypt study guide. I think most of the supplemental reads are better suited for fun free reads, not as living books for school, but the main study guide and primary text for each one is outstanding.

 Boys’ and Girls’ Herodotus : Being Parts of the History of Herodotus by John S. White- this is very readable, probably for about year 4 and up.

 Olive Beaupre Miller’s history series. These books are fantastic, but you have to be careful with your searches. Many booksellers are careless and will send you the wrong volume. They’ve also been published in a couple of different formats- a 9 volume set, a four volume set that combines volumes under the title Picturesque Tale of Progress and also as Story of Mankind. I prefer the red hardbacks of the shorter set- I personally like the cleaner look, the pages are better quality material so they don’t yellow and tan, and the pictures are more interesting to me, even though they are largely black and white outlines (they do have some nudity, just so you know but you can colour over it). T
Whether you choose the 4 or 9 vol set is a personal preference- I have a good friend whose opinions I respect a lot and she prefers the 9 volume, older Picturesque Tale of Progress.

IF you get the version republished by Dawn Chorus, you want these volumes: Beginnings I starts with ‘Early Man’, including wonderful illustrations of early cave art, followed by excellent coverage of the rise and fall of Egypt. Beginnings II covers Babylonia, the Assyrian empire, and an extensive overview of biblical history from Abraham to the Fall of Jerusalem. Conquests I follows the history of Crete and then Greece, from their rise as political states through to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Conquests II teaches the history of Rome, and includes extensive coverage of early Christianity, including the missionary journeys of Paul and the peaceful conquest of Rome by Christianity. New Nations I covers the Fall of the Roman Empire, and then turns to the Byzantine Empire, the Medieval Church, the Vikings, and the Feudal Age.

 These books are very readable, and full of illustrations and maps, so don’t let their size intimidate you. The text is engaging as well. And you wouldn’t do the entire series- just those volumes that cover ancient history.

 Synge is every bit as engaging as Miller, so you might prefer: On the Shores of the Great Sea (Illustrated) (The Story of the World Book 1)  It's also free online.  Many CM homeschoolers in the Philippines use this one because it has more world history rather than western history and geography only.

 Some people really like Guerber’s: The Story of the Greeks and the companion Story of the Romans 

For Egypt, The Book of Pharoahs

 And some might like Alfred Church’s Carthage, or the Empire of Africa - he has a lot of books you could use for a study of ancient history and he's an engaging writer with meaty ideas and excellent prose. Here's a whole page of his work at Amazon.

 I know choosing is hard, but you must. It’s important not to bury your students in an avalanche of reading (my progeny all are rolling their eyes and saying ‘Now she figures it out!’) . I mainly mention these various possibilities because if you have any of the above, that should be your choice- as I often tell people, the best book you could choose is often the one on your bookshelves already.


History supplement:
The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone 

 A biography or two: (two only if the second one is not by Jacob Abbott, he’s fantastic, but too long to do two of his in a year): Cyrus the Great Makers of History' Darius the Great Makers of History Alexander the Great Makers of History;   History of Julius Caesar...   I really like Jacob Abbott’s biographies. They are long, however, and very deep. So just pick one.

All Times, All Peoples, A World History of Slavery by Milton Meltzer- highly recommended

 Science:Famous Experiments and How to Repeat Them .  I love this book. You MUST do the experiments. And also write Brent Filson a note and beg him to consider republishing this one. Suitable for about 9-12, with some over/under with extra parental help for younger, with more external reading and writing assigned for older.

 This is also a good time to read a good book on the science of archeology, as well as the thought-provoking Motel of the Mysteries by David MaCaulay - but don't do this book with students younger than about sixth grade or 12 or so.  Remember, we do not not want to make cynics of children too young. It does not increase their discernment, it makes them unbecomingly opinioned, arrogant, and judgey far too young.

 Continue nature study as usual in whatever fashion is suitable for your students' ages.

 Literature: Alfred Church’s renditions of: Stories from Virgil, The Iliad for Boys and Girls, The Aeneid for Boys and Girls, The Odyssey for Boys and Girls,  Stories from Ancient Rome, Carthage, and others by this author

 Padraic Colum’s retellings are also fantastic. You could mix and match: The Odyssey, or The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy or  The Golden Fleece  (hardback: The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles), or use this multi-volume set.

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

 Government/statesmanship: Also continue Plutarch, naturally. I am very pleased with the series by my dear friend Anne White, of course.  Here's the first: The Plutarch Project, Volume One: Marcus Cato the Censor, Philopoemen, and Titus Flamininus (Volume 1)
 By the way, do not let anybody try to tell you the ancient Greeks were all about head knowledge and didn’t care about character.  This is so untrue that it baffles me as to where the notion comes from, and I cannot trust any related information from those who espouse this view.

 Hymn study:Learn about what may be the oldest known Greek Christian notated hymn

 Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (preferred) or  Antony and Cleopatra

 You might also find some choices for biography or statesmanship or supplemental history reading in John Lord’s Beacon Lights of History, free online at Gutenberg.

 For parents: Why Read Plutarch 
 Mortimer Adler: Why read the Great Books? 
Why REad Challenging Older Books?
 Read this summary of an excellent address by the late Daniel Boorstin,  historian par excellence, as well the 12th Librarian of Congress.  He said that trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers. We’re gathering a lot of cut flowers and trying to plant them.

~ …The Greeks said that character is destiny, and the more I read and understand of history, the more convinced I am that they were right.

 Gods, Graves & Scholars: The Story of Archaeology 

 Most of the above are affiliate links. However, you can find many of them free online as well.

How to schedule:
How many weeks long do you plan your study to last?
Add up the number of pages total in the books you choose, divide it by the number of weeks.  That's how much reading your student will have to do each week (plus their other work in other subjects).  Cut back books until you have a fairly well rounded list and a couple hours worth of reading to do in Ancient history studies each day.
It's really much simpler than it sounds.  Let the books do the teaching. Let the narrating do the processing.  Don't overdo it.    God bless!

Made by Wendi!  I put together a couple of ezines, a collection of recipes and some other goodies that I think you'll enjoy.  Take a look below!
 https://gumroad.com/wendiwanders



$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.  
   
 $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal,   Feed Your Mind!  This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.


 $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!  Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation.   Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.

Picture Study!  Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00

Common Kitchen:  What's for lunch?  Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families?  What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing?  How can I accomplish all those things at once?  We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income.  I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world.  These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids.  Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions.  I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00

Island Story

Because this question comes up so often, I've pulled together some helpful comments from previous discussions of the book Island Story, used in the early years of AO's curriculum.

Lani: An Island Story is the history spine for the first three years. Nothing compares or can truly replace it. Are you reviewing the previous chapter before starting the new one? Using a map to show where these are taking place? Maybe showing pictures from the time so he can visualize the stories? You may just need to do more scaffolding....Before the reading [showing] Pictures of what the people, places, armour, etc looked like so he can make those mental pictures?

Karen Richmond: This is one they have several years to grow into, and the history seems most abstract to the youngest students. Focus on the individuals and the most exciting parts of the stories and don't worry as much about the connecting parts for now. Add to a timeline and look at a map. And give it a *lot* more time.

Kathy Folden Livingston: Do not give up on this book! It forms the foundation for all your history learning. TCOO means much less without the background of OIS. ... It's foundational because it provides a framework of ideas on which all your history learning builds. Your child may not be able to verbalize it all now, but it's accumulating.

Treat these chapters as exciting stories about interesting people. Maybe some links from my Year 1 Pinterest board would help: https://www.pinterest.com/kathyl2032/year-1/

Also, the Form I area of the forum has links to helpful resources like maps and pictures. Just post your question there and we'll find the links for you. Don't drop it. Seriously. I don't use the resources with it, so I know it can be done without them. I suspect how much enthusiasm Mom has is a big factor. Look up one thing, even on Wikipedia, to give yourself some background for the next chapter, and just forge ahead.

Mary Frances Pickett: Please do not dump this book. What a child can express is not necessarily what he is understanding. We are finishing YR 3 now and my child is devastated that the rest of this book is not scheduled. He loves it and he cares so much for the characters. But that's now. The perceived level of connection when he was in YR 1 was about what you were describing. But he wouldn't feel that way about it now if we had quit using it.

I know it is so frustrating; I remember. I really do. But this book is so very much worth continuing. It's not well known here in the US, but it is a highly respected children's history book and will ultimately make the study of American history.

Katy Waterman: We haven't disliked it but it does lack the "stickiness" of the other books. A timeline is a must! I recommend that the child draw the picture of whatever they find important. Perhaps you are expecting more than you should. I find that my son recalls things later that I had no idea he cared about. I bet there's a lot happening in his mind that you will find out about months from now. Also.... I know my emotions about a book rub off on my son and I have had to fake excitement to not taint it. Possibly you need to take a look at how you've been approaching and presenting it.....'Try pre-reading and introducing the names before you get there.

Kimberly Hawkins Haren: I don't think the foundation it builds is entirely historical in nature. When you perservere with difficult books, you also build habits of attention and endurance.

Tamara Bell: I have a question...please hear my heart on this. I am not trying to be negative...this is a sincere question. I am reading over and over again how OIS is "foundational". What about all those kids who moved into AO without OIS? They seem to all do beautifully without having ever read OIS.

Mary Frances Pickett: Based on what I've seen many of them struggle with Churchill when they get to YR 7 when they get back to this same time period and may have to opt for an easier option then. Which is fine if that's what they need. And personally, I've been reading through YR 3 with my oldest and having the British history along side the American history is adding a whole new dimension to my understanding. And then there are all of the novels that reference a particular time in British history. Those novels make so much more sense now, because I have a framework. So, if you leave OIS out, you're missing that....I really didn't understand all of this when we started. It's taken really getting into YR 3 to understand how marvelous this book is and how it supports the other history books. I would literally cry if someone prevented me from using this book with my other children. I would drop any other book from YR 1 before this one.

Karen Richmond: Sometimes we used to get out little figures and props and act the battles out. It really is worth finding a way to make it work. There is not a better history book for young children anywhere. History is *hard* for young children to grasp because they don't have an understanding of the flow of time yet, not having experienced it. But they'll only get it by engaging it.

Melisa Hills Tamara Bell - not foundational as in the foundation to all things AO and understanding future history. More of the foundation for how the year is built.. For those starting with Year 1, it is the framework they are building off of the skills they are learning. This is their beginning, thus, their foundation. If parents start dropping the main spine of the year in Year 1, then they have lost the history spine (that years history foundation) and lost what helps tie the year together. ETA: That is probably as clear as mud....

Michelle Yates Burzynski: I keep going back to Karen Glass' book Mind to Mind when I feel this way about a reading.... Someone here said it too; read for exposure not mastery. That is exactly the point for Y1... "Providing a feast of ideas". Agree w focusing on timeline or individual and keep it short. We just finished Y1.... It's does get better! Trust the process!

Lani Dingman Siciliano: Yes, OIS is foundational to years 1-3. And many stepping in later do try and read OIS as it is on the pre-7 list too. British history repeats in year 7 as history cycle repeats.

Brandy Josiah Vencel: If he's narrating the other books well -- and it sounds like he is -- then it doesn't sound like it's a general narration problem, which is really nice! smile emoticon At my house, we usually have one book a year that this happens with for each student, and I have found it very valuable to push through. Now, this isn't because Island Story is a foundational book (which it is -- I don't know how we would have made it through Churchill in junior high unless we were building on the understanding we'd gained through all the years of reading it), because it applies to other, non-foundational books as well. If a child is struggling with *everything*, then yes we need to adjust something. But if he has one single book that is hard, then this becomes his challenge book -- his chance to grow and tackle something that is hard. To me, this is an intersection between our educational trinity of atmosphere, discipline, and life. In atmosphere, we are learning how to interact appropriately with the world around us. In discipline, we are building good and healthy habits. And in life, we are receiving living ideas from the curriculum. When my children come face to face with their challenge book, all three of these things come into play. First, atmosphere: they are learning to face a challenge with the right attitude. I help them, yes, but they must do it for themselves. Second, discipline: they build the habit of overcoming rather than quitting just because something is hard or not to their taste. Third, living ideas: they get what they can out of the book.

Wendi Lord Capehart My four year old son listened on his big sister's school and narrated the chapters from Island Story - it was his favourite book. It was not his sister's favourite book- she said there was too much fighting and battles. But she had to do it anyway. Every book need not be met with enthusiasm and smiles. We actually do our children a grave disservice when we do not encourage them to do hard things, challenging things, and overcome them.

If a child is struggling, then you do some additional things that we have talked about here on FB and over in the forum before- you give them plain gingerbread man style figures to decorate as the person being read about. You introduce the chapter with the names "Today we're going to read about two people named Hengist and Horsa." You read slowly and stop for narrations. You let them use their characters or some beanie babies or legos to act out the reading- and you join in. When you start the next chapter you ask them for a sentence or two about what happened in the previous reading, and if they can't give you, you read the last paragraph to remind them, and if they still don't get it, you try modeling the sort of thing you are asking. You also model enjoyment, interest, enthusiasm, curiosity.

And if they are still totally not understanding anything at all, then honestly, there's a good possibility the child is not ready for year 1 itself. and it would be best to spend another year building good habits, playing outside, listening to oral story telling and poetry, singing, and so forth.There has been some terrific advice here on how to work through a book when the child does not seem to be getting it (and there's more in the forum and on the Advisory blog), so I'm not going to push the original poster to keep a book that and her child have developed an aversion to- sometimes when that happens, it's like what happens when you eat some new food at the same time you happen to come down with a terrible flu bug- you associate it always with that sick feeling and you can never appreciate that food on its own merits ever again. It's not the fault of the food, but sometimes it just can't be helped. It's regrettable, and in the case of Island Story, it's immensely regrettable. Something precious is lost without this particular book. But, again, if you've tried all the methods and approaches and it's not working, move on.

HOWEVER- for those on the fence, let me share some things about Island Story:

Island Story is simply one of the best history books for children of this age ever written. That's not just my opinion. That's the vote of thousands of children over multiple decades. Generations of children made it a best-seller for the five decades or so it was in print. Think about that- a *history* book was a best-selling children's book for over fifty years. Somewhere else I used to have a newspaper article where several movers and shakers were asked to name the most influential books they'd read, and a shocking number of them named Island Story.

Lady Antonia Fraser is just one of many significant and influential personages who praises it highly (she's a historian who also writes some cracking good historical fiction)

Here are some others: "When I was younger, I particularly enjoyed OurIsland Story by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall. It is written in a way that really captured my imagination and which nurtured my interest in the history of our great nation.” - David Cameron, Prime Minister

"The delight of Our Island Story lies in its emphasis on personality, the unalloyed certainty that Britain has produced some remarkable people, and some extraordinary tales." - Ben Macintyre, The Times

"The reason that parents will go to such lengths to try to track down copies of Our Island Story is because of the sheer quality of the writing. Telling a story from history might be old-fashioned, but it stimulates a child's imagination like nothing else." - Andrew Roberts

"Our Island Story, first published in 1905, must rank as one of the most influential works of history of the 20th century." - Times Higher Educational Supplement http://www.civitas.org.uk/islandstory/

It was included in the Telegraph's listing of the 100 best Children's books of all time: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/.../100-best-childrens-books.../ .

It's really just not to be missed- unless, as I mentioned at the beginning, something has happened which renders a specific child unable to appreciate its depth and riches. But ideally, we will do everything we can to prevent that from happening, or to ameliorate it if it does before giving up on this book, because it really is that special.

Incidentally, when our family went to Washington D. C. several years ago we visited the Supreme Court building, specifically the bronze doors. My kids looked at the panels and identified most of them. At least two of the stories inIsland Story are on the US Supreme court's doors. (Others are found in other years' readings of mythology.)http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/bronzedoors.pdf) HEre's another thread where lots of good advice and some useful links to resources for helping children work through books that are at first seemingly too hard:https://www.facebook.com/groups/18541076090/permalink/10153967878106091/

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$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.  

   
 $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal,   Feed Your Mind!  This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.

 $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!  Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation.   Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.

Picture Study!  Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00

Common Kitchen:  What's for lunch?  Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families?  What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing?  How can I accomplish all those things at once?  We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income.  I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world.  These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids.  Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions.  I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00

Books for studying the last century

This is by NO MEANS intended to be the final word on  a book for studying the last hundred years or so or the 20th century. I just pulled together my notes from when I was working on pulling together some history texts on the 20th century for high school.   There have been other books published since then.  You might prefer books I don't.

I never paid more for a book on this list then about 15.00. I don’t think even the best of them fifty dollars better than the rest, you know? So  there aren’t any books here that I would insist were *required* reading if they went up to fifty dollars or more.

I always worry, when I write a post like this, that some poor homeschooling mom will feel like she’s HAS to have one of the books on this list, no matter what. Even the best of them (Witness; Life and Death in Shanghai) can be omitted if that’s what has to be done. And others can always be substituted

 Unfortunately for current use, I worked on this project back somewhere around 2000, or maybe even as recently as 2005, but it wasn't later than that, so there well may be  resources from the last five to ten years that would be great, I just haven't seen them.

I probably don't even have all my notes together in one place. It's just a starting place. But still, I think it's a pretty useful starting place.  To answer a question I've been asked more than once- (what did we end up using)- I put the titles of the books we used in bold text.
To find these resources, I culled my library shelves and made heavy use of interlibrary loan. I went to a large curriculum fair in Seattle, Washington (where we lived at the time). I went to _every single booth_ that carried anything history related, and I asked what they had for 20th century history. The only two possibilities I found were a textbook book and some study guides from another publisher (more about this below). I also browsed through catalogs and spent money we didn't really have on books we ended up not really being able to use.

One thing I noticed is that very few of the books were written before 9/11, and that this altered the terrain of the book, so to speak. Imagine sitting down in 1950 to read a book about the first 35 years of the century.  You won't find the same information highlighted, the same details brought into prominence, sometimes you won't even find key events mentioned in books published before World War two as you would in books published later.

A book published in 1936 covering events from 1900 to 1935 will look very, very different from one covering the same years but published in 1949.  The second world war added a context that completely (and rightfully) changed the context of understanding events before that war.  There are events that will be seen with better clarity post WW2 than Pre WW2, and there are events that don't even get put in the pre 9-11 books that we now realize were very important.

So, without further nattering:

I read through these three books on the 20 century, side by side, looking for a 'spine,' or primary text:
Paul Johnson's, Modern Times- which I expected to be my favorite choice for 20th century history for my high school students.
 Martin Gilbert's concise volume of the history of the 20th century
A Short History of Western Civilization. by John B. & Sullivan, Richard E. Harrison recommended in the very excellent Norms and Nobility- comprehensive, but definitely a textbook (i.e. dry).

While reading and comparing these three, these are the conclusions I drew:
I was dismayed as I read Johnson's Modern Times, because it was the the one   I'd assumed (for ages)  I'd be using, but I had to revise my ideas about that. It is a fantastic book.   He is very, very strong an analysis, but the problem is,  he is assuming his readers come to the book with a hefty amount of background knowledge.  High school students are unlikely to have that much background knowledge.  In fact, that background knowledge is kind of what I *wanted* our high school text to provide.

For just one example among many, he briefly talks about how Dali, Surrealism, DaDaism, and some other art form I forget, all reflect the age, and reflect the same sort of attitudes that Freud popularized and they did this without actually consulting Freud.  That was an excellent point about the spirit of the age, and the widespread shared cultural assumptions of the age and how they produced similar results in various fields.  However, this is the very first time he's ever mentioned Dali, surrealism or Dada, and  he never does explain who they are or what they did.
It's like he is saying something like, oh, "Greckot's famous art work popularized the views of Freud, although Greckot, Mothle, and Schmeer all approached their work independently."
This communicates very little to the reader who does not know much about Greckot, Mothle and Schmeer. (don't rush for your history references. I made those up). Neither, I think, will Johnson's work communicate much to the student who hasn't already studied the 20th century. I think that is because this book wasn't written to the high school student, but for the adult who lived through at least part of the 20th century and already has at least a passing acquaintance with the major players and themes.

I asked my older two girls to pick a chapter, read it and review and they both said pretty much the same thing- they loved his writing, but thought maybe they should try a different chapter because the chapter they read wasn't one they knew much about or understood the background very well. A case could be made that they maybe *should* know the background material better, but the fact is they didn't, and if you don't either, Johnson won't help enlighten you about the facts. Very little backstory given, except in a few key places, just lots of great analysis of said backstory.  If you're not already approaching this book with a solid understanding of the historical background, or with time to do some background reading and researching for each chapter, it's going to be pretty hard to follow. Somebody who could offer more of the backstory could use this in their homeschool. I needed something else.

The Gilbert book is great- but too concise- too much compressed into too little space. This is, however, the one we'll be using, with some supplementary books on specific decades. It is a good book, engaging, and it's amazing that he can keep the interest going with his relentless emphasis on who did what to whom on what date- but it's still not exactly what I want. I wondered about his longer version, but it's three volumes long!   Much later I was able to pick up the 3 volume long set, and I used the first book of the unabridged series with my son.  I got fantastic narrations and a pretty solid understanding of what he was reading from him- but to do this, we had to cut out ten other books I'd intended to have him read because this is very in depth stuff.  IT's a great series, has all you need for a good history text, but.... seriously.  To use this, you will need to remove about 800 pages worth of reading from other places in your curriculum if you are using Amblesideonline.org).

Johnson's has all that great detailed analysis that Gilbert misses.  Johnson has the personalities and juicy stuff and almost connecting the dots- he just doesn't tell you much about the dots. Gilbert gives a full understanding of the dots and why they are there and what they are all about.  A book that offered something like a combination of Gilbert and Johnson would be ideal. If Johnson would just tell a little more of the background- even if he just had a brief, almost encyclopedic entry at each chapter telling what this is all about, it would be perfect.

But I also read some other books about the 20th century:

Great Lives, World Government by William Jay Jacobs- thumbs firmly down, vomiting, gagging and hurling the book against the wall. Mao Tse-tung is a hero, the Red Guards only overly enthusiastic people who did little more than 'laugh at their teachers' and occasionally embarrass them in front of large crowds.  This is marxist propaganda, really.

The Triumph of Liberty, by Jim Powell- I thought this might work well as a book from which I selected excerpts. I think not, mainly because the lay-out is a little too complicated to do that with ease. However- this is one some parents want to consider for our teens. It has definite potential for older children. Link is to audible version, and I really don't see how they managed that.

The 365 Most Important Events of the Twentieth Century: Paul Baldwin- naw. More of a reference, encyclopedia type entries

Ghosts of the Twentieth Century- In spite of the title, this one looked really neat from the write-up in the library catalog. Supreme disappointment. It's a comic book in hardcover. Perhaps suitable for second graders. I have a bone to pick with those who write the book descriptions for our library's catalog.

The United States in the 20th century-David Rubel- this is in timeline format with lots of text. Some people might like it, but it wasn't for my family. I couldn't look at it deeply because it's in a format reminiscent of Usborne- lots of pictures arranged in jumpy patterns (more text than pics, though), and gives me a head-ache.

Growing UP in the People's Century- Children's eyewitness accounts of the 20th century, by John D. Clare. Possible supplementary text. It is not America-centric (since it's published by the BBC), which I thought was a good thing; Mao is not a hero; not too gross(a couple things were hard to stomach, but it wasn't too bad), no harsh images of cruelly murdered corpses pictured. There is the iconic image of the naked Viet Namese girl whose clothes were napalmed off of her seen fleeing her village with others - but for the most part, there was not too much my sensitive plant child could not handle (again, we're talking about high school). I wasn't excited about the handling of the Women's Right Movement- but I don't expect to find a mainstream book that will really objectively discuss both the positives and the negatives on this topic, but at least there wasn't any propaganda about the 'right' of mothers to murder their babies.

141 pages, picture heavy, some of the usual modern biases and blind spots, esp at the end-'will we stop pollution, solve population problems, will the UN gain in influence (because in this book the UN= always good guys)...'

Here is some more in depth information about it,  a description and text transcript of two pages:
Page 22- "The Great War On 28, June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was shot and killed in Sarajevo. It was the event that sparked off the First World War.
In the years leading up to 1914, many people had begun to feel that war was inevitable. Most people were nationalists. Nationalists believed in national pride, power, and empire. They thought that other nations were their enemies.
All over Europe, arms factories turned out weapons. In France, Bleriot's factory made aeroplanes for the military. Twenty-five million soldiers were trained and kept 'in reserve', in case of war.
To try to prevent a war, governments made treaties of alliance with other states. But in 1914, these alliances dragged them into war.
Austro-Hungarian politicians blamed the small country of Serbia for Franz Ferdinand's death. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia came to Serbia's help. Germany entered the war to help Austria-Hungar, and attacked Russia's ally, France. When the German armies went through Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.
Everyone was excited. They thought that the war would be glorious, and that it would be over by Christmas. They were terribly wrong.
The Great War became the first world war. Fighting took place all over the world. The war involved 70 million men from 20 countries. Troops from Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and America came to Europe to fight- and die- in a conflict they knew hardly anything about."

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The above text is on the top half of the page. The bottom half is a color coded map of Europe, with a smaller inset of a world map, to give context. The map shows Allied Countries at the start of war, Countries joining the Allies, Central powers at outbreak of war, Countries joining Central Powers, with lines showing the Western Front, the Furthest Russian Advance, and the Cease fire line.
Facing this page is a full page spread with two pictures and two columns containing quotes from people who were children in WWI. There is a large picture at the bottom of the page, black and white, German women waving goodby to their menfolk at a train station in 1914. Everybody is cheerful, waving, wide smiles. There is a smaller inset of a colored Australian recruiting poster saying "Australia has promised Britain 50,000 more men, will YOU help us keep that Promise."
The format for the quotes is typical for the book- gives the person's name, country of origin, year, a short description, and the quote. These two are:
"TEd Smout Australia, 1914 Ted Smout was 17 years old and still in school when war was declared in 1914. He joined the army for a variety of reasons. (White feathers were the mark of a coward.)"
"In Australia at that time we were part of the British Empire and were very loyal to Britain, and we felt it was our war... Apart from which, if you stayed a year or two longer, you'd have got a white feather from the girls! "No, it was the thing to do."
Karl von Clemm Germany, 1914

Karl von Clemm lists some of the confused reasons which led a young man to go to war:
"All over the world there are young fellows who say: 'The war's just an adventure, and it's our country'- and it's patriotism, and partly to get medals- it's a mix. "And it's wonderful because you get away from family and all of a sudden you're on your own at 18 or 19 or 20, which is great."
Some pages have more text, some much less. There are many pictures on every page, including posters, post cards, magazine covers, etc. of the time.
BJU has a textbook on the 20th century and I did look at this- it's useful as a reference book, but it's dry, choppy, and typically textbookish (also it was written for fifth graders.)

A Basic History of the United States, by Clarence B. Carson. Writes from a classically liberal, which is to say conservative, constitutional, and slightly libertarian point of view- somewhat dry, and obviously, this is only suitable if all you are interested in is American history. The 20th century is covered in part of volume 4 and volumes 5 and 6.

"The Century that Was : Reflections on the last one hundred years", edited with an introduction by James Cross Giblin- I only glanced at this, but it appears to be commentary more than history, so I didn't glance further.

The Hakim books (History of US)- I don't like these at all.  I find them trivial, choppy, and prone to giving students the impression they've learned about history when they are actually pretty shallow and very biased. And certainly not for high school.

I went to that homeschooling bookfair mentioned above where I looked at and discarded two programs (sorry, I no longer which two). I bought some study guides by James P. STobaugh, D. Min, For Such a Time As This Ministries. There are things I liked about this as a resource, but it wasn't intended to stand on its own, and I think it requires more direct teaching involvement than I was looking for. In many ways, I think this may be similar to Michelle Miller's approach, except he doesn't recommend many specific books. He gives an overview, a timeline, some short biographical articles, and some great questions to ask as you study the period or cultural event. The way he separated the topics up means this would be a pricey (and confusing) program to use to cover all of the 20th century, but you could pick one of the guides to study one aspect of the 20th century in greater depth. At the time, he had a separate guide on the Civil Rights movement, one on the Roaring TWenties, one on the Black experience from post civil war to the 20's, then the 20's to now (three of his children are black).  I think he's changed this material up a bit, so you might find it and review it for yourself.  At the time it wasn't for us, but definitely had potential.

Questions he suggests the student ask about historical figures- Do these historical figures use the Bible as the primary objective guiding force of their lives? Is there any absolute force/truth that guides their actions? Do they act as if there are eternal consequences for their actions? Do they seek to please a higher power or their own desires? and so on.
His study guides (at the time) were only 10.00 each, or you bought five and got one free. That's what I did. He has since completely revised his materials and I don't see the study guides on his website.  I see books, which look interesting, but I've never seen them for myself, so I can't give an opinion on them.

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When I talk about bias and lack of balance, this is the kind of thing I mean:
I can agree that the Viet Nam war was a great mistake and a mess.  But still, I would have liked something that included something from the other side- like the fact that Walter Cronkite stood up in front of the television cameras and flatly lied about the Tet Offensive. I can find six hundred page books at Amazon about that, but I wanted something more succinct.

The UN: Yes, it's solved many problems, helped with others, done some good.  And it's also guilty of stealing funds, improperly policing and monitoring its own people, letting them get off scotfree from raping and pillaging, and it's participated in programs that sterilized people against their will and without their knowledge.  I'd like a text that tells both the good and the evil they have done.

I'd have been more inclined to trust the research chops of a text that would have told the truth about the lockstep doublespeak and deliberate blindness of the Progressive movement in the thirties, which would, for example, have informed students about Walter Duranty who received the Pulitzer Prize in the 1930s for standing up and telling lies about Stalin's policies, for saying that everything was fine, even while millions were dying of starvation as a direct result of Stalin's policies and he knew it perfectly well.

I know it was entirely too much to expect, but I'd have liked something about the reprehensible history of Planned Parenthood in this last century (which continues today). George Grant's Grand Illusions is online, I think, and it's a good, readable book, very passionate, very well documented.

Supplemental Texts:
Only Yesterday, by Frederick Allen- limited to the twenties,  interesting, seemed somewhat trivial and occasionally prurient at times- but these are quibbles against the value in getting a sense and genuine flavor of the times.
For older students and Moms interested in the middle East today: What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response by Bernard Lewis. The HG checked it out from the library, and I snatched it. Terrific.
Also Randy Alcorn's Safely Home, a book about the church in China, fiction, but informative and helpful where based on real events in China and within the underground churches in China (odd theology of Heaven, in my opinion, but this mainly shows up at the end). Sad, but happy in the way Lewis' Last Battle is happy, if you know what I mean. I sobbed through the last four chapters or so. I know this book didn't appeal to everybody- but the key, I think, is not to read it as theology or history but as an account of underground churches in China.

And, if you want more on WWI, for a mature, sensible, well grounded student who can stand a lot of grief and if you do not object to reading about the pacifist line of thinking that not unnaturally sprung up in response to the horribly senseless loss of life in WWI, the HG suggests Testament of Youth- which none of us will read with her. There is also a video series based on this book- which none of us will watch with her.

Hiroshima by John Hersey- short, powerful real life accounts of seven or so specific real people living in Hiroshima and how they dealt with the bombing.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh's journals: Bring me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928 by Anne Morrow Lindbergh; collection of her letters and diary entries from about 1928 to 1938 or so - lovely, lovely, lovely. Well written, interesting glimpse into the Lindbergh furor and how exciting the thought of flight was to a demoralized generation)- all of her journals. Mothers who read at least will be moved by them, and several of my girls enjoyed them.

The Men Behind Hitler: A German Warning to the World, by Bernhard Schreiber : A history of eugenics, looks very readable, very good, very chilling, connects planned parenthood to the eugenics movement today- and yes, we do still have such a movement.

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng (China's cultural revolution, 1966-1976); definite keeper. Wonderful, wonderful very human book.

Red China Blues: biographical and honest account of an enthusiastic Marxist reporter, Canadian born of Chinese parentage, who went back to China in the heart of the Maoist movement, and how what she saw forced her to change her mind.

Witness- Everybody needs to read this.  That is all.

The Diary of Anne Frank: Everybody knows what this book is about.

The HIding Place: Inspiring story of Corrie Ten Boom and her family, who hid Jews during WW2 and mostly died for it.

Some of Us Survived- a book about the Armenian genocide in WWI

The Endless Steppe- a book set in WWII, about the removal of a Polish (I think) Jewish family to Siberia

Somerset Maugham: Because I like for my students to read some well written fiction of the age they are studying in history, and because I like his writing, I looked for one of his novels to use, but didn't like The Razor's Edge, Ashenden was interesting, perhaps a little lightweight, Of Human Bondage was too big, The Moon and Sixpence had moral problems. I did like his Writer's Notebook, though.  Possibly his contemporary, Evelyn Waugh, would be a fun read for the time period. I especially enjoyed Decline and Fall- it's witty, tart, and pretty much on target with its insight into 20th century shallowness.

Also lightweight but intriguing reading, with insights into the times: Helen MacInnes's classic 1950 espionage books such as Neither Five Nor Three or While Still We Live
- a story of the Nazi invasion of Poland, and the work of the Polish underground (She lived in Poland for a time and her husband was a British Diplomat. I've read that one of her books was so accurate in regard to practices of the Polish underground, that there was an investigation into the possibility of leaks- but I can't remember which title that is) and Rest and Be Thankful are some of my favorites

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William Shirer, is still the best chronicle of the horror of Nazi Germany and has never gone out of print to my knowledge- and it is very long.

For post 9-11 reading, Between War and Peace : Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq, looks interesting, and even better- 34 of the 39 essays are actually online, free, at National Review.

There were other titles so bad I didn't even bother with notes.  I spent a lot of time looking for contemporary literature for the 20th century and found the pursuit generally unrewarding. I really struggled with the 20th century literature. I found the history depressing, discouraging reading, as was much of the fiction written in the period as well, and I couldn't understand why it all seemed to suddenly become so dark and ominous. Then I remembered that somewhere I read an analogy that for centuries Christians have basically stood with one foot in a boat (the world) and one foot on the beach (Christianity), and this was comfortable, and not really even much of a problem because the world of Western Civilization was so closely moored to Christian values that it didn't really make a big difference, at least externally.

But in the 20th century, the boat was unmoored, shifting away, and people standing with one foot in each are going to be doing the splits. When that boat started shifting, Christianity was largely unprepared, I think, and so there is a dearth of literature for this time period that meets my goals of a combination of excellent, excellent literary style, good, believable, real character development, virtue, and worthy reading. (note: I believe I am indebted to Bill Pride and his book Flirting With the Devil for the image of the unmoored boat with western civ standing with one boat on the pier and one in the boat).

The next problem is that girl-boy thing- not romance, but the shift in thinking about books and gender- and I'm not talking bout this decade's obsession with celebrating mental illness and self-deformation as yay, diversity. This (the 20th C.) is the century when we decided that men and boys really don't read unless there's swearing, naked bosoms, and a bottle of booze in the drawer. Plentiful explosions and dismembered body parts may substitute for any of the above. I really think the majority of the best literature of the 20th century was mostly written in the first thirty years of it (with a few notable exceptions). Men are assumed to be illiterate and it shows (and becomes a self-fulfilling thing).

I had difficulty with finding well written material that didn't shock my socks off or bathe me in vile and vulgar crudity. The writing itself dwindled into soundbytes, short, choppy syntax, simplified vocabulary to the point of modern literature for adults reading much like George and Martha easy reader books, and that was the good stuff. The last hundred years have seen a decline in the field of literature like no other century as far as I can tell. The notable exceptions? We'd already read most of them.

Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow and others were a welcome discovery.

World Magazine offered a list (compiled by readers) on their blog a while back- it might be a helpful place to search.

A hopeful trend started in a certain subset of Sci-Fi and Speculative Lit- it's been called The Human Wave, and you can scroll down for some of the guidelines here. They work for regular fiction, too.

Again- this is not intended to be comprehensive, the final word, or even a significant authority in your life. Obviously, my own biases also come into play here. These are some of the books I read and considered and wrote notes about in, approximately, 2002. Others may have been published since then or maybe I missed some you'd love or hated your faves, or turned my thumbs up at some you'd hate. It's just a start.

Our Century In Pictures by Peter Jennings- biased, shallow, also American rather than world history. The conclusion of New York reviewer Gary Wills was, " We are probably being unfair if we judge this as a book. It is a TV show that has wandered off the screen where it belonged."  I don't think it was good as a TV show and it's much worse as a book.  Not useful at all.
The following excerpts were taken from this site:

...don't mistake the length for depth. The chapter "New Morning: 1981-1989" recycles many of the old shibboleths often heard from the media about the "decade of greed," degrading the Reagan years as a time of naivete, instead of recognizing the true pride and patriotism with which many remember it.
Cynicism rains on the parade of Reagan's "Morning in America" as the authors proclaim: "In fact, it would be hard to imagine a time more devoted to historical revisionism than this decade...in America, in particular, feelings of nostalgia for less complicated times ran so high it felt occasionally as if the society had been transplanted to the grounds of an elaborate theme park where a tidied-up, even cinematic, version of the past could be lived out in comfort."
To make their point, the authors crib some of the worst diatribes from 1980s newscasts and cast them as history. "Finally, with the deepening of the chasm separating America's rich and poor, the arrival of AIDS and a drug epidemic in the inner cities, the soaring deficits encouraged by Ronald Reagan's ambitious defense spending, and the insider trading scandals that brought down two of Wall Street's most outrageous billionaires, it was hard not to feel that the nation was just pretending to be in better times, distracted by the fizz and bubble of its new wealth, tolerating the worst kinds of ethical and moral abuse, pushing aside bad news or, worse, delaying its full impact for future generations."
Whew. That mouthful makes you yearn for the Depression by comparison.
Of course, when the authors come to the Clinton years, they found economic optimists were no longer living in Disneyland: "By the late nineties the nation seemed to have arrived at an economic Eden."
Here's another:

The reader should perhaps bring to these books a certain wariness toward permitting celebrity TV anchors to organize our history for us. Making connections among the welter of images they televise for us nightly isn't exactly their strong suit.

This is one of the ones I bought and then got rid of as soon as I finished it.


What Everyone Should Know about the Twentieth Century by Axelrod and Phillips- if this is back in print, I am glad. It wasn't available for a while, and when it was oop it was grotesquely overpriced. That said- it's good, but really just good enough in a sea of mediocre, not terrific. You still have to ignore his bias (see his take on the Oklahoma bombings for an example) or point it out.  It's ten dollars of good, maybe 15, maybe 20.  It's not fifty dollars worth of good.  This is just my opinion, of course, as is the entirety of this post.

Susan Wise Bauer's 20th century history book, The Modern Age-, while for younger readers than I was looking for, is pretty well done. I like it the best of her history books- but again, it's good mainly because it's better than the rest in a sea of mediocre.  My opinion is that her writing, when she is writing for children, is not nearly as sparkling and living as I would prefer.  I like it much better when she writes for adults.  I wish she'd write this volume for adults.

Ah- here's the one with newspaper stuff that I liked: 20th Century Day by Day" This was published by DK, and their books are usually too busy for me, but a dear friend picked mine up for me at a Sams' club for 15.00 years ago (Dear Friend, did I ever pay you back???????)- but I think it's oop again. However, you can get what looks like a software version. Not nearly so nice as curling up on the couch together and looking through the century's headlines, IMO.

One more suggestion- for a life-giving, human read for a teen studying the 20th century, a sort of anti-dote for the death and despair, I strongly, strongly recommend A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature by Benjamin Wiker. It's not a book for studying the history of the 20th century, but it is a book for some lovely syntheses of how to look at the 21st century and how to view the world around us as we are moving forward.