Teaching Resources

Focuses on United States foreign policy and wars from a principled, peace-oriented perspective.  Launched in October 2015, the website is sponsored by Historians for Peace and Democracy and the Peace History Society.  Fourteen essays are currently complete.  Each contains a wealth of images, citations of primary and secondary sources, and extensive discussions of debates and antiwar movements.  Written for students and the general public, the essays may be assigned all or in part by teachers and professors.  See also the website Resources page for books, articles, films, and websites on each topic.

• Introduction: The Fifth Estate
• The War of 1812
• The United States – Mexican War (1846-1848)
• The War of 1898 and the U.S.-Filipino War (1899-1902)
• “Yankee imperialism,” 1901-1934
• U.S. participation in World War One (1914-1919)
• The U.S. and World War Two
• Cold War interventionism, 1945-1990
• The Korean War: Barbarism Unleashed (1950-1953)
• The Vietnam War (1954-1975)
• Central America Wars, 1980s
• Post-Cold War era, 1989-2001
• Afghanistan, Iraq, and the “war on terror”
• Africa and the War on Terror

More Teaching Resources

• Zinn Education Project (coordinated by Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools)
• Understanding the Vietnam War, by John J. Fitzgerald (2007) – a comprehensive website
• Teaching the Vietnam War, by John J. Fitzgerald (2007)
• Documentary evidence on Tonkin Gulf Incidents of 1964, by John J. Fitzgerald.
• Media To Help Explain The Moral Injury From Vietnam (Film and Books, May 2015)
• “Torture, American Style,” by Margaret Power, ed., HAW pamphlet, November 2004; reprinted with new Foreword, May 2006), 24 pages. Copies still available.
• Deadly Mistakes? program presents historical background of today’s international crises (September 2009)
• The Tyranny of Defense power point presentation by Edrene McKay, based on Andrew J. Bacevich’s analysis of the military-industrial complex (download)
• The Collapse of the Soviet Union, power point presentation by Edrene McKay (download)
• Costs of War. Housed at Brown University, offers up-to-date tables, charts, and maps with information on current US wars.
• War Made Easy Film Review by John J. Fitzgerald (25 September 2007)

The Bush – Cheney Years, A Historians Against the War Roundtable at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, January 3, 2009, New York, NY, with contributions by Alice Kessler – Harris (Columbia University), David Montgomery (Yale University), Vijay Prashad (Trinity College), Ellen Schrecker (Yeshiva University), Barbara Weinstein (New York University).

Join Us? Testimonies of Iraq War Veterans and their Families, by Carl Mirra, ed., Oral History Working Group, HAW Pamphlet #5, 2006 (PDF, 437 KB). Also for sale as a 24-page pamphlet on newsprint, from HAW, Box 442154, Somerville, MA 02144. The following prices include postage: 1-4 copies $1.00 each, 5-24 copies 80 cents each, 25 or more copies 60 cents each.

Conducting Oral History with Iraq War Veterans and their Families: A Brief Guide (Prepared by the HAW Oral History Working Group, April 2006) (PDF, 276 KB)

Let History Judge.  Asked how history would judge the war in Iraq, President Bush replied, “We won’t know. We’ll all be dead.” The war in Iraq was a disaster; this pamphlet details why.  HAW pamphlet (PDF, 214 KB).

Educational Materials on the Iraq War and other war-related / social issues by Jerry Steele, HAW pamphlet #4 (August 2007).

Teaching the Iraq War, by John J. Fitzgerald (2007)

Teaching About the Iraq War.  Rethinking Schools’ special collection of articles and resources for classroom teachers, including materials that focus specifically on Iraq as well as articles that address general issues of armed conflict and society’s priorities.

Three audio CDs from the conference Empire, Resistance, and the War in Iraq are available for $5 each:

• Disc #1:  Friday evening keynote speech by Howard Zinn, plus question-and-answer period
• Disc #2:  Panel on “The U.S. in the Middle East” (panelists Magnus Bernhardsson, Sara Dougherty, John Foran, Rahul Mahajan, and Nada Shabout)
• Disc #3:  Saturday evening plenary:  speeches by Irene Gendzier and Rashid Khalidi

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES AND BOOKS:

• Gendzier, Irene. “Invisible by Design: U.S. Policy in the Middle East.” Diplomatic History Fall 2002 (26:4).
• Gettleman, Marvin E. and Schaar, Stuart, eds. The Middle East and Islamic World Reader. New York: Grove Press, 2003 “Round Table: History and September 11.” Journal of American History. (89:2) September 2002.
• “Special Section on Iraq.” Logos: a journal of modern society & culture Winter 2003 (2:1).  Worldwatch Institute. State of the world, 2002: A Worldwatch Institute report on progress toward a sustainable society. New York: W. W. Norton & Co; 2002.
• Stuart Schaar and Marvin E. Gettleman, Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Sources and Studies on The Middle East and Muslim South West Asia, HAW Pamphlet 1 (revised edition, Spring 2007). Available in HTML (better for online viewing) and Word and PDF (better for printing).
• John J. Fitzgerald, Some Books on the Iraq War and Related Topics (Oct 2006)

Impediments To Education In The Occupied Palestinian Territories, edited by Sherna Berger Gluck, Emerita faculty, California State University, Long Beach. Introduction by Sa’ed Atshan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Swarthmore College. A publication of the Palestine-Israel Working Group of Historians Against the War (September 2015).

The Myth of Israel’s Insecurity, by Ira Chernus. A publication of the Palestine-Israel Working Group of Historians Against the War (January 2015).

Films on the History of the Palestine-Israel Conflict, compiled with brief introduction and commentary by Rosalyn Baxandall. A publication of the Palestine-Israel Working Group of Historians Against the War (December 2014).

International Human Rights Law: Violations by Israel and the Problem of Enforcement, by Alice Lynd with the assistance of Staughton Lynd. A publication of the Palestine-Israel Working Group of Historians Against the War (August 2014).

Chronology of Islamic History & Literature, by Keith Carson, Adjunct Professor, History & Humanities, Atlantic Cape Community College (pdf format).

Moral Injury and Conscientious Objection: Saying No to Military Service, by Alice Lynd with the assistance of Staughton Lynd (Conflicts in Context, August 2015).

Staughton Lynd, ed., WE WON’T GO: Narratives of Resistance to World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 1990–91 US–Iraq War, and the 2003– US–Iraq War, HAW Pamphlet 2 (May 2004). Available in HTML (better for online viewing) and Word and PDF (better for printing).

Why Peace Movements Are Important by Alan Dawley (3-13-06) (PDF of updated version, May 8, 2006; formatted for printing)

Bombs and Budgets: Tools for Reclaiming Communities from Militarism.  Created by the War Resisters League in cooperation with the South Asia Solidarity Initiative, this popular education curriculum explores how organizing against federal military spending relates to and can forward local campaigns for economic justice.

Teaching Tolerance. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Teaching Tolerance” curriculum.

Peace History Society. Rich source of primary document collections and research guides related to the U.S. peace movement.

Bibliography for Peace (May 2012, DOC format download). Lists and contact information for peace and justice organizations, academic centers, audio-visual resources, and notable people, including singers, poets, playwrights, and religious leaders.