I have been studying and researching and writing about history
for half of my life. For the seven years I have been a father,
I’ve been thinking about what is appropriate to teach my
children about history; what seminal events might constitute a
beginning canon of historical knowledge. In our household, there
are three topics that come up again and again from school,
popular culture and the news. 1. The Revolutionary War: the
Founding Fathers beat back the British and formed a “more
perfect union”; 2. The American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln and
his team of abolitionists ended slavery; coda: Martin Luther
King and Rosa Parks helped end racism; 3. World War II: Adolph
Hitler and his Nazis killed Jews and other minorities and tried
to take over the world with his Japanese allies. It’s amazing
how many times these moments come up in conversation. Indiana
Jones was a recent fad in our house and that required bringing
up the Nazis again. The Lincoln Memorial on a Spring trip meant
reminding them about slavery. Like