Any recommendations for basic middle school US/world history resources- that adults can benefit from?
Sadly I (mid-30s) bombed history in high school and cannot recall basic timelines/events. A general overview would be great, so I can at least understand what is brought up in adult conversations, as I struggle with Howard Zinn right now…
In: Other
That’s cool that you’re doing that. You could always have a read through the [Wikipedia entry on History of the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States). Then follow links and read further on anything that’s especially unfamiliar.
Ken Burns documentaries are great. Multimedia and video documentaries generally are helpful in terms of establishing a timeline because the more you can see paintings from the time and what they were wearing, see photos of people and architecture and cars, hear music from the time, etc., the more you can place the events in a mental timeline. Like, if Prohibition and the Harlem Renaissance are both mentally linked to jazz and black and white film of people dancing the Charleston, that’s pretty helpful.
Historical movies are also a good resource, even if they are Hollywood-ized. Sometimes the biggest hurdle to learning and actually retaining information is that you just don’t care about it. Movies make you actually care, if they’re any good.
eta- Drunk History videos are also a pretty fun way to supplement a basic timeline. You can find them on YouTube.
Latest Answers