Thinking Through Sources for Exploring American Histories Volume 2

Thinking through Sources for Exploring American Histories is a two-volume primary sources reader that supplements the document projects in the textbook. Each chapter of the reader presents five carefully selected documents that connect to topics in each chapter of Exploring American Histories. New Central Questions at the beginning of each chapter provide a framework and a focus for the documents that follow. Headnotes placed strategically before each document give students just enough context, and Interpret the Evidence and Put It in Context questions at the end of each chapter provide a starting point for classroom discussion or a written assignment. This collection of sources is available both in print and in LaunchPad with innovative auto-graded assessment.

“Many of the documents are well chosen and both relate to the chapters in Exploring American Histories and, in the better chapters, conflict in intriguing ways which fuels deliberative discussions. Thinking Through Sources moves beyond a collection of primary sources to a series of valuable sources and learning activities intentionally organized to teach both historical content and the historical thinking skills.”
― Richard Hughes, Illinois State University

“The real benefit of this textbook is the embedded primary documents that are combined with a variety of quizzes that not only test students about their comprehension of the documents but also prepare them to write essays.”
― Craig Pascoe, Georgia College & State University

“Thinking through Sources for Exploring American Histories is an excellent reader. I'm impressed by the variety of different kind of sources, the diversity of voices and perspectives presented, and the organization of the reader. This reader is unique, in that it helps to group sources around a central idea or theme, and then directs students in their interpretation and analysis.”
― Anderson Rouse, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“The topics cover a range of subfields in history and the sources are well-chosen and invite students to consider a particular issue from a range of perspectives. The reading is dense (and visual sources are dense as well), but the chapters are an appropriate length to require students to read. This is a very short and manageable reader. It is an easy and effective way to incorporate primary sources into the survey classroom.”
― Charlotte Haller, Worcester State University