Chapters 1 & 2: New World Beginnings & The Planting of English America
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These two videos offer some narrative and perspective on the European colonization of the Americas. John Green, bestselling author of such books as Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars, is also a history buff. His "Crash Course" video series offers a high-octane blast of history in ten-to-fifteen-minute bursts, and we'll be watching a few of them in class.
One of the best things about John Green's videos is that in addition to giving you some historical facts, he'll also offer some analysis about the events and how those events are interpreted through the lens of time. The last few minutes of this video are especially important, as he talks about the need to understand peoples' biases and perspectives when listening to their interpretation of a historical event |
Jared Diamond wrote the bestselling book Guns, Germs, and Steel in 1997. It was a smashing success, and helped make him a household name. In the book, Diamond analyzes the rise and fall of civilizations, essentially attributing the collapse of civilizations to geography. Guns (warfare), Germs (disease), and Steel (transportation infrastructure) were the key elements in these collapses.
The National Geographic Channel did a miniseries out of Diamond's book, and the video to the right is the first episode in that series. It's an hour long, but it provides a fascinating look at the arrival of the Spanish in the New World. For further reading, be sure to check out Guns, Germs, and Steel from your local library, because the book is always better than the movie... or miniseries. |
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Chapters 3: Settling the Northern Colonies
Everyone has seen the movie Pocahontas, and if you haven't, you're not missing much. Basically, a really handsome guy (voiced by Mel Gibson, before the crazy DUI arrest thing) named John Smith falls in love with a beautiful Powhatan princess named Pocahontas. In the movie, they're the same age; in real life, John Smith was old enough to be Pocahontas's dad. The movie The New World is a much more accurate depiction (at least of the characters' ages), although it suffers from the fact that the entire production is terrible. And I'm a Colin Farrell apologist. Either way, the legend of Pocahontas has gotten a lot more screen time than the northern colonies.
But, if you don't have time to do an exhaustive search for some random documentary from the 1970s about the northern colonies, you should check out the video to the right, where John Green compares and contrasts the settlement of the Jamestown Colony in 1607 with the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1620s and 30s.
You may have noticed that the Puritans were a bit, um, "uppity" about their religious traditions. Be sure to check out John Winthrop's "City Upon a Hill," which will give you one version of events. In the interest of fairness, you should also take a look at The Crucible, Arthur Miller's 1953 play that paints an uglier picture of the Puritans' rather stark lack of tolerance. If you don't have time for the play, try the 1995 movie starring Winona Ryder. |
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As it turns out, the English and the Native Americans probably should not have been neighbors. The video to the left describes a series of wars that were fought between the English colonists and the Native Americans during the 17th century.
Note the language that is used by the English in the primary sources that John Green quotes. The old saying "History is written by the victors" is appropriate here. Even though both sides committed massacres and atrocities (or, if you prefer, "won victories"), the English were obviously victorious, because today, Native Americans no longer populate the entire continent, just a few patches of land called "reservations" in random places, including Oklahoma. |
Chapters 4 & 5: American Life in the Seventeenth Century & Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution
Chapters 4 & 5 of our textbook deal with life in colonial America under English rule. Often when studying American History, there is a tendency to focus solely on Massachusetts and Virginia, as these are probably the two colonies that contributed the biggest amount of culture and, later, rebellion to colonial life, but as this video shows, there was still a lot going on in the other colonies.
Highlights of Chapter 4 include Bacon's Rebellion, the rise of slavery in the American colonies, and the relatively stable structure of the New England family. Chapter 5 talks at length about the everyday life of people living in colonial society. John Green has a lot of valuable information to share with you. Remember, "history is about much more than the lives of kings... the real story of history is about regular people." |
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Chapter 6: The Duel for North America
Right from the start, this chapter of the book has the best title. More importantly, though, we get into the French and Indian War, which was not actually between the French and Indians, and had a host of other names in other places, including the Seven Years' War, even though it lasted for nine years (1754-1763). Apparently, early colonial schools had not yet Raced to the Top.
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This video on the left is from Crash Course and does a really good job of explaining this conflict in a fast-paced but effective manner. Be sure to also check out the information in your textbook about this war, which is often forgotten about in history, everywhere except for the AP US History exam. The video on the right is a longer look from a PBS series about the Revolutionary War and picks up with Part I, which is set during the French and Indian War.