FCE SharkSources

Of interest to the SST 0629 student at this website are two topics: the Industrial Revolution and transportation (1800-1870) and the emergence of modern transportation systems (1870-1920). The focus here is the development of mechanized systems.

The glamour of American cities was real. Also real was the destitution of their slums. Both worlds—plenty and poverty—existed side by side. This US History site describes the plight of the urban poor and meaningful change that finally arrived.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History presents excellent detail in a comprehensive essay that addresses women’s rights. In 1900, a married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband.

What is meant by progress in science? This conceptual question can then be complemented by the methodological question: How can we recognize progressive developments in science? These questions are tackled at this Stanford Encyclopedia website.

EDSITEment! from the National Endowment for the Humanities presents extensive information on the Mexican Revolution, which includes a focus on art and culture, two lessons, and many related web resources. A Spanish version is available.

Just about every aspect imaginable regarding World War I is treated at this multimedia site. It is rich with resources: a timeline; vintage photographs, audio, and video; propaganda posters; maps; memoirs; diaries; and many others.

The Avalon Project makes available digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government. To that end, the Covenant of the League of Nations is provided here.

Fordham University presents an outline of the major topics on the Russian Revolution. Numerous links are available on each topic. In addition to a variety of print articles, links are available to web resources with interesting images.

From the PBS series, The 1930s Collection, comes a moving documentary, Surviving the Dust Bowl, which describes the dashed hopes of thousands of farmers in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, who were seeking the American dream.

The general tactic by the leadership of both Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany was caution with respect to protest and compromise with the Nazi leadership where possible.
Insight into this issue is offered at this Holocaust Museum site.

“…to this myth, to this grandeur, that we wish to translate into a complete reality, we subordinate all the rest.” These words from Benito Mussolini constitute a core belief of his Fascism. Read more at this History Guide site.

Twenty-six topics are linked to this excellent compendium of information and images on World War II. Statistics, including military and civilian casualties, drive home the horror of the conflict. A link to figures offers insight into leaders at the time.

One cannot tell the story of World War II without telling also the story of the Holocaust. At the center of that narrative are the concentration camps, the largest of which was Auschwitz. Almost one million Jews were killed there.

The Charter of the United Nations was signed at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization “…to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which … has brought untold sorrow to mankind.” Read the document here.

From the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration comes this statistics site on Korean War records. “More Korean War links” provide 21 additional sites that offer extensive data on this Cold War conflict.

Biography.com offers information on the man who succeeded Josef Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev publicized Stalin's crimes, initiated the Cuban Missile Crisis, and established a more open form of Communism in the USSR.

Leonid Brezhnev proclaimed in late 1968 that antisocialist forces within the Warsaw Pact nations would not be tolerated. His doctrine was a response to efforts of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party under Alexander Dubcek to introduce liberal reforms.

Videos, speeches, and photo galleries are available at this History.com site that chronicles reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev—inevitable reforms that led to the fall of the Soviet Union. Especially memorable is the Reagan speech to tear down the Berlin Wall.

In the 1950s and 1960s new nations pushed the UN toward accepting independence for colonial states, demonstrating that in the eyes of the international community, the colonial era was ending. The U.S. Office of the Historian offers the details.

Chairman Mao, Communist leader and founder of the People's Republic of China, was responsible for the policy of the “Great Leap Forward,” which would be better called the “Great Economic Disaster.” His story is told here by this BBC History site.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” This quotation from Gandhi reveals the great wisdom of this tireless fighter for Indian independence and social progress. Gandhi's life and teachings have inspired many liberationists of the 20th century.

At this site, the New York Times offers an extensive and insightful obituary of Indira Gandhi, controversial leader of India from 1966 to 1984 and not only a defender of democracy but also a practitioner of autocracy.

This U.S. Government site discusses the significance of genome research. Resulting personalized medicine may transform healthcare through earlier diagnosis, more effective prevention and treatment of disease, and avoidance of drug side effects.

Besides a basic definition, this National Institutes of Health site provides six links: Overviews, Latest News, Related Issues, Journal Articles, Organizations, and Law and Policy. Both reproductive and therapeutic cloning raise important ethical issues.

The 20th century saw greater social complexities in household structure and family patterns that inevitably impacted childhood. This issue is discussed at this site from The Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society.

From the Journal of Urban Health comes this article on living conditions in cities, of which improvement offers the greatest promise for reducing morbidity, mortality, and disparities in health and for improving quality of life and well being.
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While terrorism is not new in the history of humankind, it has reached new depths in the 20th and 21th centuries. In September 2006, the UN embarked upon a new phase in counter-terrorism efforts by agreeing on a global strategy to counter terrorism.

Mohsen Sazegara, currently a guest lecturer at Harvard, recounts at this Radio Free Europe site his journey from ardent supporter of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian revolution of 1979 to disenchanted opponent.

This article in a publication from the history department at Ohio State University debates the value of the term “Muslim Fundamentalist.” Whether one agrees with the author’s viewpoint is not as important as the need to reflect on such labels.

For decades some sociologists have maintained that the number of persons who claim religious affiliation and active participation has been declining. This site from the BBC suggests that in some countries, religion may become extinct.

In the last two decades, there has been a steady evolution of organizational structures designed to facilitate an increasing community working collaboratively on Internet issues. This comprehensive site from the Internet Society tells the tale.

In the light of a burgeoning world population, the question of a sustainable food supply is increasingly important. This link provides information from an international virtual conference and series of papers on the topic.

View the PDF timeline of the seemingly inexorable strife at this Point of View website. Although the timeline stops at 2001, excellent detail is provided on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle up to that point.

From the Electronic Journal of Communication comes this article on stay-at-home fathers in the 21st century. The authors advocate for acceptance of this increasing dynamic in families and the negotiations of work and family balance.

Apartheid in South Africa has officially ended. Since 1994 the country has been a full democracy. However, economic malaise and the chronic failure of government services are an indictment of South Africa’s politicians, which bodes ill for the future.

The MacArthur Foundation “seeks to improve conditions for vulnerable migrants, while laying the groundwork for fundamental improvements…at the national, regional, and global levels over the longer term.” Follow the links at this site for details.

In the six decades of its existence, the UNHCR has helped millions of refugees restart their lives. Today, a staff of some 7,685 people in more than 125 countries continues to help some 33.9 million persons. Comprehensive information is at this site.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative is a U.S. Government research and development initiative involving the nanotechnology-related activities of 20 Federal department and agency units. Extraordinary achievements are described at this site.

Download this National Writing Project article that poses the question, “How can educators best understand the impact that Internet technologies are having on today's youth and use that understanding to inform their teaching practices?”

Excellent point of departure for world history sources available through George Mason University. It contains reviews that describe online primary-source archives, evaluates resources, and provides classroom suggestions. Within the site, scholars discuss strategies for analyzing primary sources. Students may learn how historians use sources, what questions they pose, and where else go for information.

This web site is the online source for the Internet History Sourcebooks Project, a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented without advertising or excessive layout for educational use. It is a rich compendium of material from ancient to modern history.

This is the web site for the National Council for the Social Studies, the professional organization for teachers of social studies. Numerous resources useful in social studies instruction are available.

Professional development and classroom materials to support the study of world history. This site is organized into 26 thematic units along a chronological thread. Materials include videos, an audio glossary and a thematically-organized interactive. Students may explore and download each unit's content overview, selected readings, bibliography, activities, and more.

At this web site are available resources for teaching AP World History, including engaging instructional materials, sample exam questions, and current course information.

This site brings together daily life, history, art, music, literature, philosophy, religion, mythology, science, technology, world changing discoveries, important battles, great people, and key events across centuries, countries, and continents. The site is complete from prehistory into the early 1600s. Links to later years are under construction.

At this site, one may visit any civilization, nation, or empire and see the context, chronology, connections, and big pictures of history. This atlas makes history easy to visualize and navigate through both time and place.

Offering numerous complete units, lesson plans, and resources, this site provides a model curriculum for teaching world history in middle and secondary schools. Drawing on current historical research, it helps young learners by connecting specific content to historical trends and patterns.

Contained within this site are standards-based, technologically integrated classroom-ready units. Each unit includes primary-source photographs, audio, short movie clips (selected units only), graphs, charts, maps, quotations, speeches, political cartoons, and art. There is a link to free downloads of abundant PowerPoint presentations, lessons, videos, maps, and other materials.

Numerous printable lessons, graphic organizers, outlines, document-based questions, puzzles, and other useful materials are available at this site. The material is organized into two major sections: Prehistory through the 1700s and the Scientific Revolution through Today. Material is also organized by topic and level through Grade 8.

Recommended by Dr. Safransky