Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks

Looking at the different ways textbooks from different eras present the same historical events, Not Written in Stone offers an abridged and annotated version of Kyle Ward’s celebrated History in the Making specifically designed for classroom use. In each section, Ward provides an overview, questions for discussions and analysis, and then a fascinating chronological sampling of textbook excerpts that reveal the fascinating differences between different textbooks over time.

Topics covered include: Images of Native Americans, Columbus’ First Voyage, Pocahontas and Captain John Smith, Anne Hutchinson, Pequot War, Property Rights in the New World, Salem Witch-hunt, Boston Massacre, Lexington and Concord, The Battle of Trenton, George Rogers Clark, Women in the American Revolution, Shays’ Rebellion, The Barbary Pirates, Sacagawea, Tecumseh and Harrison, Monroe Doctrine, The Alamo, The Trail of Tears, Andrew Jackson’s Adoption, Start of the Mexican-American War, Mormons, Dred Scott, African-American Soldiers, Slavery, US-Dakota War of 1862, African-Americans during Reconstruction, Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike, Wounded Knee Massacre, Immigrants, McKinley Assassination, Philippine-American War.