ABOUT THE BOOK The book is entitled History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives and examines how ten separate countries have experienced debates and disputes over the contested nature of the subject, for example the 'Black Armband' and 'Whitewash' factions in Australia who adopt opposingly celebratory or denigratory views of Australian history, especially when evaluating episodes of poor racial relations. There are also tensions between traditional/patriotic views of history teaching and reformed or 'new' history. There are issues of political control of the curriculum and parallel issues of who writes it (very topical in England at the moment over two expat 'big picture' historians who work at Harvard and Columbia (Niall Ferguson and Simon Schama)). ENDORSEMENTS: "An important collection for anyone seeking to understand the incendiary nature of the history curriculum across the globe." Sam Wineburg, Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and History, Stanford University, USA. "A powerfully and impressively wide-ranging collection of essays, which vividly remind us that the debates on the teaching of history are global rather than merely national".
Sir David Cannadine, Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University, USA. CONTENTS: Acknowledgements. Introduction, Tony Taylor and Robert Guyver. Preface Peter Seixas. Legacies, Ruptures and Inertias: History in the Argentine School System, Maria Paula Gonzalez. Under Siege from Right and Left: A Tale of the Australian School History Wars, Tony Taylor. "We Were Allowed to Disagree, Because We Couldn't Agree on Anything": Seventeen Voices in Canadian Debates over History Education, Ruth Sandwell. Controversiality and Consciousness: Contemporary History Education in Germany, Sylvia Semmet. Denial in the Classroom: Political Origins of the Japanese Textbook Controversy, Tony Taylor. "Little Is Taught or Learned in Schools": Debates over the Place of History in the New Zealand School Curriculum. Mark Sheehan. Transforming Images of Nation-Building: Ideology and Nationalism in History School Textbooks in Putin's Russia, 2001-2010, Joseph Zajda. Dealing with a Reign of Virtue: The Post-Apartheid South African School History Curriculum, Rob Sieborger. The History Working Group and Beyond: A Case Study in the UK's History Quarrels, Robert Guyver.
Wars and Rumors of War: The Rhetoric and Reality of History Education in the United States, Keith Barton. About the Contributors...