How to Study American History
- KnicksRule
- Wakka
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:29 pm
How to Study American History
At our school we do not have a course in American History before 11th Grade. How would you suggest to quickly improve in American History within a month or two. (other than reading full-length textbooks such as American Pageant)
Abhinav Kurada
AMSA Charter School '12-'16
Captain '13-'16
2x winner of United States Geography Olympiad (2013, 2014); USGO International Team Member (2015)
SSNCT Runner-Up (2014); T-21 HSNCT (2015)
AMSA Charter School '12-'16
Captain '13-'16
2x winner of United States Geography Olympiad (2013, 2014); USGO International Team Member (2015)
SSNCT Runner-Up (2014); T-21 HSNCT (2015)
-
- Lulu
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:23 pm
Re: How to Study American History
Something that I've been doing (no idea how effective it is) is to go through my older sibling's APUSH prep boook. It's by no means the best way of doing it, but it at least gives me some familiarity with the names.
Adam Davies
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
Re: How to Study American History
It might help just to write a series of short questions on important people and events. For example, besides reading the textbook on American history, look at the key terms and people. Write a 3 line tossup or so which tries to pick out a few clues on each of them. At the very least, you'll know the giveaway, but you will also be able to recognize some of the harder or middle clues.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
-
- Yuna
- Posts: 819
- Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:09 pm
- Location: MD//DC
Re: How to Study American History
Shorter textbooks, like the one published by AMSCO (I don't remember what it's called, we just called it "AMSCO") that are usually used to study for the APUSH exam, can be helpful.
Visit places. Go to Bunker Hill, Lexington, Concord. If you have the opportunity, visit Antietam and Gettysburg. If you spend a day at those last two places and see as many things there as you can, I guarantee you that you will be able to first-line every tossup on those battles at the high school level, assuming you don't lose a buzzer race.
Besides that, just try to make sure that you have a good timeline in your head of all of the presidents and major events.
The best thing, as with nearly every subject, is tossups. Tossups on presidents is a good place to start. There are only so many clues about McKinley that are going to come up, and you'll learn that by looking at tossups. Learn clues, but also learn chronological markers to help you place a tossup on your mental timeline. If someone was a Secretary of War, you know they can't be Clinton-era. You don't have to necessarily learn much about Lewis Cass, but if you know he was around in the 1840's, that's a big help in the mental process of elimination in a tossup. During a tossup, you want to be able to narrow it down chronologically as quickly as possible.
And knowing you're a geography person, look at historical maps. IT's a good way for map people like us to really be able to visualize everything.
Visit places. Go to Bunker Hill, Lexington, Concord. If you have the opportunity, visit Antietam and Gettysburg. If you spend a day at those last two places and see as many things there as you can, I guarantee you that you will be able to first-line every tossup on those battles at the high school level, assuming you don't lose a buzzer race.
Besides that, just try to make sure that you have a good timeline in your head of all of the presidents and major events.
The best thing, as with nearly every subject, is tossups. Tossups on presidents is a good place to start. There are only so many clues about McKinley that are going to come up, and you'll learn that by looking at tossups. Learn clues, but also learn chronological markers to help you place a tossup on your mental timeline. If someone was a Secretary of War, you know they can't be Clinton-era. You don't have to necessarily learn much about Lewis Cass, but if you know he was around in the 1840's, that's a big help in the mental process of elimination in a tossup. During a tossup, you want to be able to narrow it down chronologically as quickly as possible.
And knowing you're a geography person, look at historical maps. IT's a good way for map people like us to really be able to visualize everything.
Raynell Cooper
Arcadia ES '04
Richard Montgomery HS '11
George Washington University '15
University of Maryland, College Park '17
Hella things, National History Bee and Bowl
Arcadia ES '04
Richard Montgomery HS '11
George Washington University '15
University of Maryland, College Park '17
Hella things, National History Bee and Bowl
Re: How to Study American History
Find a textbook commonly used for APUSH (AP US History), and read it. My high school American History class was essentially just a "read the textbook" class. You guys can easily replicate the experience outside of a classroom environment.
Corry Wang
Arcadia High School 2013
Amherst College 2017
NAQT Writer and Subject Editor
Arcadia High School 2013
Amherst College 2017
NAQT Writer and Subject Editor
- Schmidt Sting Pain Index
- Wakka
- Posts: 139
- Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:18 pm
Re: How to Study American History
This is what I recommended you earlier, and I think it's still the best option at this point. You'll learn the most info in the least amount of time.Strange Fascination wrote:Shorter textbooks, like the one published by AMSCO (I don't remember what it's called, we just called it "AMSCO") that are usually used to study for the APUSH exam, can be helpful.
.
TWO-TIME HSNCT PARTICIPANT
TWO-TIME NSC PARTICIPANT
THREE-TIME NHBB PARTICIPANT
Varun Wadhwa
Charter School of Wilmington '15
University of Delaware (2013-)
Newark, DE
TWO-TIME NSC PARTICIPANT
THREE-TIME NHBB PARTICIPANT
Varun Wadhwa
Charter School of Wilmington '15
University of Delaware (2013-)
Newark, DE
Re: How to Study American History
One book I have has pages of political cartoons, newspaper drawings of major events, and portraits of people from each presidential administration. It's from 1958 (so I'm pretty sure it's out of print), but it's been a gold mine of information on US history because of all the amusing contemporary images that tend to be very memorable as well as educational. APUSH review books and textbooks are great too, but for someone who wants a different style of learning this might be a good option.
I haven't had much lucking in finding other large-scale online or print collections of historical political cartoons, but I'm sure other people in the community have and I'd love it if they shared 'em.
I haven't had much lucking in finding other large-scale online or print collections of historical political cartoons, but I'm sure other people in the community have and I'd love it if they shared 'em.
Chris C.
Past: UGA/UCSD/Penn
Present: Solano County, CA
Past: UGA/UCSD/Penn
Present: Solano County, CA
Re: How to Study American History
That sounds slightly like Stefan Lorant's "This Glorious Burden."
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
-
- Lulu
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2013 8:28 pm
Re: How to Study American History
Thirding the recommendation for the AMSCO AP US History book; used it to cram for the APUSH exam and it worked like a charm. If you don't know anyone who already has the book, then it's cheapest to order directly from the AMSCO website. Another option is the Oxford Companion to US History, though it does have some articles that are completely useless in the context of quiz bowl.Strange Fascination wrote:Shorter textbooks, like the one published by AMSCO (I don't remember what it's called, we just called it "AMSCO") that are usually used to study for the APUSH exam, can be helpful.
You might also consider looking at online APUSH course notes to get a quick overview of important people/events for particular time periods.
Carlo D (formerly SLHS, SJS, TAMU)
- The Stately Rhododendron
- Rikku
- Posts: 484
- Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:18 pm
- Location: Heart's in the woods
Re: How to Study American History
A People's History, by Howard Zinn, covers plenty.
IKD
Yale 18
Oakland Mills 14
"I am the NAQT beast I worship."
Yale 18
Oakland Mills 14
"I am the NAQT beast I worship."
-
- Lulu
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:23 pm
Re: How to Study American History
Yeah, I don't think such an ideologically-obsessed book is really a good way of learning about American history.A People's History, by Howard Zinn, covers plenty.]
Adam Davies
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
Re: How to Study American History
You have no idea what you're talking about. The question isn't whether it is "ideologically obsessed" or whatever charge you can level at it, but whether it is a useful tool to learn American History: it is because it is very readable (compared to a standard textbook) and covers a lot of ground compared to other references.gustavus.adolphus wrote:Yeah, I don't think such an ideologically-obsessed book is really a good way of learning about American history.Mr. Joyboy wrote:A People's History, by Howard Zinn, covers plenty.
Last edited by Cody on Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
-
- Lulu
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:23 pm
Re: How to Study American History
Whatever you think about the ideological merits of Zinn's take on history, it is unorthodox, and therefore I believe needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Particularly considering the book is 800 pages long, it doesn't really work as a crash-course in American history, as the first post asked for.
Adam Davies
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
Wichita Collegiate, 2017
University of Cambridge, 2020 (hopefully)
- at your pleasure
- Auron
- Posts: 1723
- Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:56 pm
Re: How to Study American History
I mean, unorthodox takes on history can and are often incredibly valuable. Whether Zinn's take on history is as unorthodox as he postulates it is or actually valuable is another question altogether; I am inclined to say "no" to both given that labor history, gender and racial lenses, and social history are all established as useful frameworks for the study of american history and most of the orthodoxy he claims to decry was overturned decades ago. For the purpose of quizbowl study, it is a reasonable overview which covers quite a bit of material which comes in in quizbowl and which does not suffer many of the defects of some of the textbooks being recommended here(outright unreadable prose and disjointedness, over-focus on narrow segments of political and military history, etc). Having said that, I don't think I would put it on an undergrad syllabus; there are better sets books out there for doing what Zinn is trying to do, although reading a enormous volume of secondary literature is not what people are looking for in this thread.gustavus.adolphus wrote:Whatever you think about the ideological merits of Zinn's take on history, it is unorthodox, and therefore I believe needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Particularly considering the book is 800 pages long, it doesn't really work as a crash-course in American history, as the first post asked for.
Douglas Graebner, Walt Whitman HS 10, Uchicago 14
"... imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid."-Sir James Frazer,The Golden Bough
http://avorticistking.wordpress.com/
"... imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid."-Sir James Frazer,The Golden Bough
http://avorticistking.wordpress.com/
- Auks Ran Ova
- Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
- Posts: 4295
- Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
- Location: Minneapolis
- Contact:
Re: How to Study American History
If you're looking to go from zero to competent at quizbowl history (or many things) quickly, the easiest thing you can do is just read a lot of questions. Take notes if you can, write your own questions (or just do further research on things you find interesting) if you have time--short of that, there's no royal road to learning, so even exhaustive packet study can only take you so far.
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
Re: How to Study American History
Since AMSA is currently ranked number 2 in History Bowl http://www.historybowl.com/nationals-teams/ I believe you guys are already really good at US History and probably know a lot about Lewis Cass and stuff, so I don't really think there's any way to get much better rapidly considering how good you guys already are. Just my thoughts.
- Harpie's Feather Duster
- Forums Staff: Administrator
- Posts: 1117
- Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:45 pm
- Location: Chicago
Re: How to Study American History
Going through elections and learning about everybody associated with them at some point is a decent way to grab some points.
Dylan Minarik
Hamburger University 'XX
Northwestern '17
Belvidere North High School '13
Member Emeritus, PACE
JRPG Champion, BACK TO BACK Robot Slayer
Hamburger University 'XX
Northwestern '17
Belvidere North High School '13
Member Emeritus, PACE
JRPG Champion, BACK TO BACK Robot Slayer
Re: How to Study American History
I think this is great advice. A book that can give you a working knowledge of US elections is Anything for a Vote by Joseph Cummins:http://www.amazon.com/Anything-Vote-Jos ... 1594741565. It approaches each election in a manner meant to highlight "dirty" tactics used by each candidate, which isn't exactly a topic very helpful for quizbowl. However, it's pretty easy reading material that covers the candidates, their strategies, and the historical background of each election. I've found it to be fairly clue-dense as well.If you want a crash course on elections, I'd start here.Goole by-election, 1971 wrote:Going through elections and learning about everybody associated with them at some point is a decent way to grab some points.
-
- Lulu
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:33 pm
Re: How to Study American History
Textbooks for APUSH are the best way to go. If you don't have the time for this, then a Barron's or similar review guide can give you a solid overview. You can definitely earn a lot of points by learning presidential elections; I'd start with the often-tossed-up ones like 1860, 1872, 1912, etc.
Ben Cushing
Phoenixville '14
Penn '18
Phoenixville '14
Penn '18
- Skepticism and Animal Feed
- Auron
- Posts: 3238
- Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 11:47 pm
- Location: Arlington, VA
Re: How to Study American History
I don't have any specific books to recommend, but here are some things that worked for me:
(1) Biographies of presidents (or any major political figure, really). If a biography is going to do a good job of telling you about a US politician's career, they are going to have to explain what was happening in his era. Boom, there you go, intro text on whatever period of time that guy/gal was from.
(2) I liked to read multiple books on the same topic/time period. If stuff came up in both books, it was obviously worth knowing. This also irons out author bias quite well. United States history is quite small compared to European or World history, so this is a subject where its probably more viable of a strategy than most.
(3) It's easier to write about treaties, politicians, battles, etc. than it is to write about social history. One issue I had with modern history books is that they focus a lot about social history, oral history of individuals, etc. I found that going into my university library or my local used book store and finding old history books from the 1920's/1930's was a pretty good source of the type of clues that showed up in political history questions.
(4) Visiting stuff is underrated as a way of learning things. Especially battlefields, seeing the terrain lets you make much more sense out of battle tossups. And talk to the rangers, the people in historical costume, etc. Every historic site probably has a dude walking around it who would be amazing at quizbowl and is often happy to tell you all sorts of new clues about the site you're visiting and the people who did stuff there!
(1) Biographies of presidents (or any major political figure, really). If a biography is going to do a good job of telling you about a US politician's career, they are going to have to explain what was happening in his era. Boom, there you go, intro text on whatever period of time that guy/gal was from.
(2) I liked to read multiple books on the same topic/time period. If stuff came up in both books, it was obviously worth knowing. This also irons out author bias quite well. United States history is quite small compared to European or World history, so this is a subject where its probably more viable of a strategy than most.
(3) It's easier to write about treaties, politicians, battles, etc. than it is to write about social history. One issue I had with modern history books is that they focus a lot about social history, oral history of individuals, etc. I found that going into my university library or my local used book store and finding old history books from the 1920's/1930's was a pretty good source of the type of clues that showed up in political history questions.
(4) Visiting stuff is underrated as a way of learning things. Especially battlefields, seeing the terrain lets you make much more sense out of battle tossups. And talk to the rangers, the people in historical costume, etc. Every historic site probably has a dude walking around it who would be amazing at quizbowl and is often happy to tell you all sorts of new clues about the site you're visiting and the people who did stuff there!
Bruce
Harvard '10 / UChicago '07 / Roycemore School '04
ACF Member emeritus
My guide to using Wikipedia as a question source
Harvard '10 / UChicago '07 / Roycemore School '04
ACF Member emeritus
My guide to using Wikipedia as a question source
- Chef Curry
- Lulu
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 11:17 am
Re: How to Study American History
Seeing that history bowl is on Saturday, where I look forward to playing you, this might not help too much. But, I second reading APUSH textbooks. I am a freshman and I was able to check out an APUSH textbook for a month. It is a short time compared to an actual AP Class, but I was still able to get some clues that helped me. What I like to do with history in general is looking up things on Wikipedia, taking notes, and going on Quinterest, and take more notes. Good Luck, and see you at history bowl!
Ahan Patel
Manheim Township High School '17
Villanova '21
Manheim Township High School '17
Villanova '21
Re: How to Study American History
The "Comics Should Be Good" blog took a look at Pulitzer Prize winning cartoons in 2009. Here's their achive:cchiego wrote:I haven't had much lucking in finding other large-scale online or print collections of historical political cartoons, but I'm sure other people in the community have and I'd love it if they shared 'em.
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.co ... s-archive/
Myron Meyer, Sioux Falls