For a while now, I’ve hung around over at RealClearPolitics. For a poly sci junkie, it’s a great place to spend a few minutes or a hundred, digging into polls, commentary, and election gossip. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that realized that the RealClear network of sites also has a History version.
Duh.
At RealClearHistory, you get the same sort of article aggregation from a variety of places in a variety of topics. We can all use a little more content knowledge and RealClearHistory is pretty decent place to find interesting resources and insight. And what better time than summer? To take full advantage, be sure to use the search feature in the top right to find articles, resources, and maps.
Yup. Maps. We all love a great map. Robert Louis Stevenson once observed:
I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and I find that hard to believe.
Exactly. And if the great map comes along with a decent story and some context, even better.
Along the left hand side of RealClearHistory, you’ll find a section titled The Map Room that lists some of their most recent map related articles. For some reason, I’ve had trouble getting the Map Room link to work, so don’t be afraid to use the search feature if this is happening to you. You might try this link of map related search results to start.
I’ve been down numerous rabbit holes over the last few weeks as I’ve dug into articles highlighting all sorts of different maps. A few of my recent faves:
- Rare World War II Maps Reveal Japan’s Pearl Harbor strategyfrom National Geographic
- The Louisiana Purchase and The Fry-Jefferson Map of Virginia from Monticello
- Inside the Secret World of Russia’s Cold War Mapmakersfrom Wired Magazine
You’ve got all summer. So dig in. Do some exploring. Bookmark a few things for next fall.
(A quick heads up. The free version has ads. And the free version hates ad blockers. Even when I try to whitelist RealClearHistory via my ad blocker, I’ve still run into some annoying issues.)
cross posted at glennwiebe.org
Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant forESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.
