Reading Like a Historian

Featuring an expanded introduction, this award-winning bestseller has been updated to link curriculum to the Common Core State Standards.

This popular text shows how to apply Wineburg’s highly acclaimed approach to teaching— Reading Like a Historian—to middle and high school classrooms, increasing academic literacy and sparking students’ curiosity. Each chapter begins with an introductory essay that sets the stage of a key moment in American history—beginning with exploration and colonization and the events at Jamestown and ending with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Primary documents, charts, graphic organizers, visual images, and political cartoons follow each essay, as well as suggestions for where to find additional resources on the Internet and guidance for assessing students’ understanding of core historical ideas.

Reading Like a Historian helps teachers use textbooks creatively and provides a wealth of ideas for how historical instruction can enhance students’ skills in reading comprehension.

Sam Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of History (by courtesy) at Stanford University, and author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. Daisy Martin is the Director of History Education at teachinghistory.org, the National History Education Clearinghouse funded by the U.S. Department of Education and housed at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Chauncey Monte-Sano is associate professor of education at the University of Michigan.

“This is what research dissemination is all about if we ever want to make a positive difference in students’ lives and our own futures.”

—Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

“The Reading Like a Historian program…is getting a new wave of attention as teachers adapt to the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts. Those guidelines, adopted by all but four states, demand that teachers of all subjects help students learn to master challenging nonfiction and build strong arguments based on evidence.”

—Education Week Spotlight (July 30, 2012)

“All educators who want to promote deeper understanding should read and use this wonderful book.”
—Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University

“The focusing questions, the teaching tips, and the primary sources make it possible for any teacher of history and social studies to help students become more interested, careful, and effective in handling information.”
—Grant Wiggins, president, Authentic Education

“What a great resource for teachers of history! This book explains how teachers can help students bring a critical eye to history, teaching ways of thinking that they can use in all of their studies.”
—Diane Ravitch, New York University

2012 James Harvey Robinson Prize, American Historical Association
2012 One of AAUP's 2012  “Best of the Best”