History

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

MDay1985 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:49:42 GMT

Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson. Short. Easy to understand. To the point. And it will enable them to nail politicians/media on so many falsehoods.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Wheylous — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:20:00 GMT

I guess this depends on how permissive your supervizers are.

I'm actually not too sure how great of an idea it is to go without a standard textbook. After all, since the world surrounding them is full of fallacies, they will have to know the standard version to combat it.

Hence, I recommend using a normal history textbook (The American Pageant is pretty good, AP level) and then on the side forcing them to think critically and examine all the material presented by themselves. For example, teach them about the Gilded Age and the standard interpretation of it being laissez-faire, and then challenge them to find out whether it was actually laissez-faire. Make them have to find alternative sources for Standard Oil, meatpacking, the railroads, etc.

Have them walk through the scenarios and analyze them logically, as if they were a person living in the era. Have them ask how Standard Oil was able to gain a monopoly if it was so evil and to retain it. Guide them so that they see that the standard historical explanation makes no sense - the public had essentially no memory if it repeatedly fell for monopoly prices. Then show them this: http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Standard_Oil

Walk them through the meatpacking scenario - why would large businesses consistently sell bad meat? Wouldn't they lose customers? If this was a large problem, wouldn't new companies which sold good meat replace the old ones? Then, have them read this: http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Meat_packing

Do the same about the railroads, and then go on to show them how almost all railroads were government subsidized and regulated.

Teach them about the bootleggers and the baptists, and how big business loves big government: http://www.cato.org/research/articles/cpr28n4-1.html

In general, your task would be difficult if you chose this teaching style. Yet it might be the most productive.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Shalonda — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:48:19 GMT

War and Peace!

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Tony Fernandez — Fri, 20 May 2011 05:15:24 GMT

The Law, by Frederic Bastiat

For a New Liberty, by Murray Rothbard

Economics in One Lesson, of course.

The Rise and Fall of Society, by Frank Chodorov

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

David. — Mon, 16 May 2011 04:41:28 GMT

+1 for economics in one lesson

It is simple enough that anyone can understand it, light and entertaining enough that few students will give up due to boredom - yet the content is comprehensive and powerful enough to cure the average man of his economic ignorance.

I enjoy reading vast tomes of economics, but I believe that just this one little book of economics should suffice for most people.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

righttosecede — Mon, 16 May 2011 03:27:13 GMT

Awesome! Thank you! You are absolutely right about the Civil War and WWII. We studied The Real Lincoln, Lincoln Unmasked as well as other sources this year in dealing with the Civil War and the students, although challenged with overcoming the mythology, appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed researching historical fact rather than being told the same regurgitated drivel.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

thecommaking — Mon, 16 May 2011 02:30:37 GMT

Here's a teaching suggestion for getting students to think about liberty. I am an English teacher, and I require my students to argue for the abolition of a law or government agency of their choice. (Even the most statist person opposes some laws.) A certain number of their sources must come from the Mises Institute, lewrockwell.com, or other libertarian websites.

So far as readings, I would recommend various articles from lewrockwell.com and mises.org. I would also recommend the following:

For beginner students, assign The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, by Tom Woods, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression by Bob Murphy, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution by Kevin Gutzman.

For more advanced students, assign

How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas DiLorenzo
Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy by Murray Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty by Murray Rothbard
America's Great Depression by Murray Rothbard
History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray Rothbard
The Black Book of Communism by Various Authors
Great Wars and Great Leaders, a Libertarian Rebuttal by Ralph Raico
Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War by Pat Bucanhan
The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Freemen by Jeff Hummell

The most persistent myths to overcome are that the Civil War and WW II were just and necessary and that capitalism caused the Great Depression and increased statism ended it. Dismantle these myths, and you will have gone far in defeating brainwashing.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Nielsio — Sun, 15 May 2011 14:43:44 GMT

This:

Six Months That Changed the World (by John Denson)

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Cobra Commander — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:32:06 GMT

Inventing the People by Edmund Morgan

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Hard Rain — Sun, 15 May 2011 11:16:01 GMT

Hey, since it's HS history I'm assuming the students will be learning about Europe in the 20th century and the World Wars. In this case here is some thought-provoking libertarian revisionism:

Great Wars and Great Leaders by Ralph Raico.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Gero — Sun, 15 May 2011 05:49:29 GMT

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

John James — Sun, 15 May 2011 05:33:57 GMT

For any two books (beginners/young):

or or

&

or or

For history in general

or

For American History:

or or

(You can click most of those images and be taken to a place to either download the text and/or purchase it.)

A fourth that belongs in that top row is Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. Conceived in Liberty is 4 volumes...so needless to say it's long. But you can click the image for full PDFs and an audiobook for the whole text. Also be sure to check this artcle that speak on its contents.

I would also mention 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask as a perfect book for high schoolers, and Crisis and Leviathan. Really everyone should read them, but 33 Questions is definitely better suited to the young student, and Crisis may be a bit much for some high schoolers...but it shouldn't be.

Also check out:

History Reading List

I would also include I also agree that primary sources are great. They are often a tough read, but if you combine them with secondary and tertiary sources and assessments that comment on them and the period in which they were written, they can be invaluable.

there are also various lectures:

Thomas E. Woods: The Truth About American History (10)

The New Deal: History, Economics, and Law

The Economics of the New Deal and World War II

But at the very least have them watch the below lecture. It is the best, most concise yet comprehensive introduction to this world that I have ever seen. Sure there are plenty of books you will read and full lectures you will hear, and interviews you will see. But I know of no book that you could read in this amount of time that would offer a better intro to economics and history. Everyone should listen to it.

Applying Economics to American History

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Neodoxy — Sun, 15 May 2011 03:55:31 GMT

I thought that this book on this site

http://mises.org/books/historynot.pdf

Was a very good read although it dragged. It offers a different view on a lot of historical matters, I have suspicions about the validity of some of the ideas proffered in the history of liberal thought just because they are so radical. However, I would not suggest all of this book to your kids but it might be very useful if you could do excerpts. Skip over the historical fiction stuff, but the section "objectivity and history" and then the very last section of this book starting on page 204 also has some good conclusions. Value in this book can be found in certain excerpts, particularly surrounding the passages I cited which do something which is never really done in the history classroom which is to talk about history as a science, what it really is, what it really means, and how it can be manipulated and has changed so dramatically over the years. It also offers very succinct little passages concern issues such as the civil war and the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

I've also always been dying to get my hands on this book which offers a pro-industrial revolution perspective

http://mises.org/store/Capitalism-and-the-Historians-P253.aspx

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Othyem — Sun, 15 May 2011 02:06:44 GMT

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. Not sure if you'd rather it be a history book, if not then this is probably one of the better books for a high schooler. It's short, easy to understand, and always relevant. Not to mention the lesson is something everyone needs to internalize and take with them wherever they go, whether thinking about economics or something completely different.

Re: One Book High Schoolers Must Read

Clayton — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:31:44 GMT

If you mean any book: The Politics of Obedience by Etienne de la Boetie and The Law by Frederic Bastiat

If you mean a history book: Rise and Decline of the State by Martin van Creveld

If you mean a US history book, I don't have a recommendation, though you could look at Thomas Woods' or Tom DiLorenzo's books for some revisionist history of the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and Captalism in general.

Clayton -