Our America: A Photographic History by Ken Burns

Big Questions

Who Is In Charge of History?

Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.

George Orwell

Who’s in charge of history? Who makes the final say?

• Academics?
• Writers?
• Journalists?
• Teachers?
• Parents?
• Archivists?
• Politicians?
• Google?
• Governments?
• Social Media?
• TV?
• Artificial Intelligence?

Why does History matter at all?

• What role do history and the past play in our democracy?
• Our economy?
• Our understanding of ourselves?
• How do questions of history intersect with today’s most pressing debates about
  • technology
  • the role of the media
  • journalism
  • tribalism
  • education
  • identity politics
  • the future of government
  • civilization, and
  • the planet?

     : 
Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past by Jason Steinhauer
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Big Picture

Big Picture / History

Ancient

Medieval

Asia

Africa

Americas

World to 1920

• Western Europe from c. 1500 to 1789
• E. Europe, SW Asia, N. Africa from 1480-1800
• Europe from 1789 to 1920
• European Colonies in the Americas, 1492 – 1790
• United States from 1763 to 1920
  • United States, 1763 – 1865
    • Texas slavery: On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
• United States, 1865-1920
• Canada from 1763 to 1920
• Latin-American and Caribbean Nations to 1920
• Australia and Oceania to 1920
• S. Asia Under European Imperialism, 1500-1920
• SE Asia Under European Imperialism to 1920
• China 1839-1911; Japan to 1910
• SW Asia, N. & Sub-Saharan Africa (1800-1920)

World since 1920

Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live by Nicholas A. Christakis

• Truth and Trust
• War
• Pandemics
  • impact on society: Apollo’s Arrow by Nicholas A. Christakis

We Will Get Through This

 World War I, 1914 - 1918
 Over 200,000 men died in the trenches

 Spanish Flu, 1918 - 1919
 675,000 Americans perished

 World War II, 1939 - 1945
 291,557 soldiers died in battle

Vietnam War, 1954 - 1975
58,200 soldiers died

Coronavirus Pandemic, 2020 - 2022
Deaths: World, 6M; US, 964K (3/11/22)

War in Ukraine, 2022 - Present