Resources

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

American History

• The Mayflower Compact (1620)

• "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741)

• Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Constitution of the United States (1787)

• Bill of Rights (1791)

World History

• The Justinian Code (534 C.E)

• Tao Te Ching (6th Century B.C.E)

• The Dresden Codex (250-900 C.E)

• Bushido: The Soul of Japan (16th Century C.E)

• Hagakure: Book of the Samurai (1716)

• Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan (11th Century C.E)

• Magna Carta (1215 C.E)

BOOKS

American History

• • • Colonization through Independence

      1. • The Forty Years that Created America by Edward M. Lamont

         • The War that Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War by Fred Anderson

         • The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

         • Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment who Changed the Course of the Revolution by Patrick K. O'Donnell

         • The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army by Paul Lockhart

         • Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth by Holger Hoock

• • • Founding the Republic/American Government

      1. • The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis

• • • The Early Republic

      1. • Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood

         • The Burning of the White House: James and Dolley Madison and The War of 1812 by Jane Hampton Cook

• • 1. • Expansion

         1. • What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe

• • • Sectional Differences, the Civil War, and Reconstruction

      1. • Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson

         • Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

• • • Special Topics

      1. • The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry by Ned and Constance Sublette

         • Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S. Wood

         • The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck

World History

• • • West Africa, Islam, and the Byzantine Empire

      1. • The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay by Patricia and Frederick McKissack

         • Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong

         • History of the Byzantine Empire by Alexander A. Vasilev

• • • Ancient & Medieval China

      1. • In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds from Yemen to Yokohama by Eric Tagliacozzo

         • Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson

         • The King's Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road by Xin Wen

• • • The Americas

      1. • 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

         • Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization by Arthur Demarest

         • The Aztecs by Michael E. Smith

         • The Incas by Terence N. D'Altroy

• • • Ancient & Medieval Japan

      1. • Legends of the Samurai by Hiroaki Sato

         • A History of Japan by R.H.P Mason & J.G. Caiger

         • The Taiheiki: A Chronicle of Medieval Japan translated by Helen Craig McCullough

         • Samurai Revolution: The Dawn of Modern Japan Seen Through the Eyes of the Shogun's Last Samurai by Romulus Hillsborough

• • • Medieval Europe

      1. • Life in a Medieval City by Joseph and Frances Gies

         • Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Frances Gies

         • Seven Myths of the Crusades by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt

         • Arab Historians of the Crusades by Francesco Gabrieli

American History (1587-1850)

• What Happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke?

• Joachim Gans, the First Practicing Jew to Set Foot in North America, Finally Gets His Due

• When the Jamestown Colony Placed Ads to Attract Brides

• The Misguided Focus of 1619 as the Beginning of Slavery in the U.S. Damages Our Understanding of American History

• A Symbol of Slavery—and Survival

• What's the Difference Between Puritans and Pilgrims?

• What Was on the Menu at the First Thanksgiving?

• The Thanksgiving Before the “First” Thanksgiving

• America's Forgotten Swedish Colony

• When Massachusetts Banned Christmas

• 5 Notable Women Hanged in the Salem Witch Trials

• This Long, Violent Border Dispute Between Colonial Maryland and Pennsylvania is Why We Have the Mason-Dixon Line

• When Young George Washington Started a War

• When Native Americans Briefly Won Back Their Land

• How the Proclamation of 1763 Sparked the American Revolution

• Did Colonists Give Infected Blankets to Native Americans as Biological Warfare?

• Did Benjamin Franklin Invent Daylight Savings Time?

• 8 Things You Might Not Know About Daniel Boone

• The Most Notorious Poet in 18th Century America was an Enslaved Teenager You’ve Never Heard Of

• The Raid on Bermuda that Saved the American Revolution

• The Founding Fathers: What Were They Really Like?

• What did the Founding Fathers Eat and Drink as they Started a Revolution?

• 9 Things You May Not Know About the Declaration of Independence

• At Its Core, the Declaration of Independence Was a Plea for Help From Britain's Enemies

• Mary Katharine Goddard, the Woman Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

• John Adams's Vision of July 4 was July 2

• The Plot to Kill George Washington

• George Washington’s Christmas Crossing

• Meet Jack Jouett, the Paul Revere of the South

• Valley Forge: George Washington’s Most Dismal Christmas Ever

• Diary Sheds Light on Deborah Sampson, Who Fought in the Revolutionary War

• How a Slave-Turned-Spy Helped Secure Victory at the Battle of Yorktown

• Fast Fashion: Top Four Accessory Trends of Fall 1787

• How Did Magna Carta Influence the U.S. Constitution?

• Why America Has a “President” Instead of an “Exalted Highness"

• Some Stories About George Washington Are Just Too Good to Be True

• George Washington and His Maps

• When Whiskey Was the Backbone of the US Economy

• The Spies Who Launched America's Industrial Revolution

• George Washington Liked Ice Cream So Much He Bought Ice Cream-Making Equipment for the Capital

• George Washington Didn't Have Wooden Teeth--They Were Ivory

• George Washington’s Hard Death Shows the Limits of Medicine in His Time

• Did George Washington Really Free Mount Vernon’s Slaves?

• The Strange Case of George Washington’s Disappearing Sash

• The Sex Scandal that Ruined Alexander Hamilton's Chances of Becoming President

• This 1797 Impeachment Has Never Been Fully Resolved

• This Unremembered US-France 'Quasi War' Shaped Early America's Foreign Relations

• The Letters of Abigail and John Adams Show Their Mutual Respect

• Three Things to Know About Benjamin Banneker’s Pioneering Career

• Thomas Jefferson’s Complicated Relationship with Thanksgiving

• This American Doctor Pioneered Abdominal Surgery by Operating on Enslaved Women

• The Louisiana Purchase was Driven by a Slave Rebellion

• 10 Little-Known Facts About the Lewis and Clark Expedition

• Burr's Political Legacy Died in the Duel with Hamilton

• The Map that Popularized the Word ‘Gerrymander'

• Sword Seized by Connecticut Cops May Have Been Wielded by Late President in War of 1812, Authorities Say

• Relics of Rebel Slave Fort Unearthed by Hurricane Michael

• The Sole American Killed in the 1814 Burning of D.C. Was Related to George Washington

• John Quincy Adams Once Approved an Expedition to the Center of the Earth

• How Native Americans Struggled to Survive on the Trail of Tears

• How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative

• Autobiography From 1831 Provides Rare, Firsthand Account of a Muslim Slave in America

• Recalling the Devastating Patent Office Fire of 1836

• Decades Before the Civil War, Black Activists Organized for Racial Equality

• Cave Markings Tell of Cherokee Life in the Years Before Indian Removal

• Why Violence Against Journalists Ran Rampant in 19th-Century America

• 9 Things You May Not Know About the Oregon Trail

• The Unheralded Pioneers of 19th-Century America Were Free African-American Families

• 10 Things You Should Know About the Donner Party

• How First Lady Sarah Polk Set a Model for Conservative Female Power

• During the Mexican-American War, Irish-Americans Fourth for Mexico in the ‘Saint Patrick’s Battalion'

• The Ill-Fated Expedition of a 19th-Century Scientist to Explore the California Wilderness

• How the Donner Party Was Doomed by a Disastrous Shortcut

• The Little-Known Underground Railroad That Ran South to Mexico

• Hundreds of 19th Century Americans Tried to Conquer Foreign Lands.  This Man Was the Most Successful

• Gold Rush California Was Much More Expensive Than Today's Tech-Boom California

• Violence in Congress Before the Civil War: From Canings and Stabbings to Murder

World History (Africa, the Muslim World, China, Japan, Maya-Aztec-Inca, Europe in the Middle Ages, Age of Exploration)

• This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History

• This Heavenly Building Served as Both Church and Mosque

• How the Silk Road Created the Modern Apple

• Archaeologists Identify Oldest Known Human Burial in Central America

• Archaeologists Find First-Known Temple of ‘Flayed Lord’ in Mexico

• Exclusive: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice May Be World’s Largest

• Chocolate Gets Its Sweet History Rewritten

• Feeding the Gods: Hundreds of Skulls Reveal Massive Scale of Human Sacrifice in Aztec Capital

• Aztec Palace and House Built by Hernan Cortes Unearthed in Mexico City

• Maya Ritual Cave 'Untouched' for 1,000 Years Stuns Archaeologists

• Fear of Foreign Food May Have Led to the Death of This Crusader King

• Rare Blue Pigment on Medieval Teeth Gives Peek at Woman’s Hidden Life

• Medieval Map: An Interactive Map of the Medieval Era​​​​​​​

• The Hardworking Dogs of Medieval Europe​​​​​​​

• Why Was Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake?

• The Ships of Christopher Columbus Were Sleek, Fast--and Cramped

• Magellan was First to Sail Around the World, Right?  Think Again.

• How Europe Went Cuckoo for Cocoa

American History (Other)

• Was America Named for a Pickle Dealer?

• Did Florida Host the First Thanksgiving?

• Meet Stagecoach Mary, the Daring Black Pioneer Who Protected Wild West Stagecoaches

• Last American Slave Ship is Discovered in Alabama

• The State Where Women Voted Long Before the 19th Amendment

• Do Carrots Really Improve Your Eyesight?

• Foreign Travel Was Once Taboo for American Presidents

• How Enslaved Chefs Helped Shape American Cuisine

World History (Other)

• Human Odyssey Map: Retrace the Many Paths of Human Migration

• Discovering Gilgamesh, the World's First Action Hero

• 9 Powerful Ancient Kingdoms You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

• Archaeologists Discover Some of the Amazon’s Oldest Human Burials

• Untouched 4,400-Year-Old-Tomb Discovered at Saqqara, Egypt

• Recently Unearthed Roman Latrine Was Full of Dirty Jokes

• Preserved Horse, Saddled, Harnessed and Ready to Flee, Found in Villa Outside Pompeii

• Wife Selling: The 19th Century Alternative to Divorce

• Why Bibles Given to Slaves Omitted Most of the Old Testament

Politics

• Andrew Jackson, America’s Original Anti-Establishment Candidate

• Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics

• The Third-Term Controversy that Gave the Republican Party Its Symbol

Geography

• Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States

• Why Your Mental Map of the World is (Probably) Wrong

• This Map Lets You Plug in Your Address to See How It’s Changed Over the Past 750 Million Years

The Realm of the Totally Random

• Neanderthals Mated With Other Human Ancestors in Siberian Love Shack

• ‘Pumpkin Spice’ Has Been a Thing for 3,500 Years

• How the Crusades Helped Create Your Gingerbread Latte

• Even Colonial Americans Liked Pumpkin Spice

• The First Thanksgiving Parades Were Riots

• Found Near the Thames: A Centuries-Old Skeleton, Still Wearing Thigh-High Boots

• Meet Krampus, the Christmas Devil Who Punishes Naughty Children

• The Un-Christmassy Origin of Gingerbread Houses

• How the Civil War Changed Christmas in the United States