This practical, wide-ranging guide to teaching one of the most popular and challenging fields in US history is written by leading scholars who have extensive classroom experience. Organized around key topics and innovative teaching methods, the essays provide concrete, tested approaches, from teaching World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War to using film, wargaming, staff rides, and public-facing projects. The authors also directly address and reflect on some of the pedagogical challenges and controversies of teaching about war. The book bridges traditional military history and 'war and society' approaches to integrate the operational side of military history with broader social, cultural, and political aspects and consequences. Designed for instructors at high school and college level, as well as graduate students preparing to teach, it is an essential resource for anyone seeking to engage students more effectively with a field that remains central to understanding the United States.
‘During our era of ongoing war, teaching US military history can lead to a better understanding of American history itself, editors Beth Bailey and Andrew Preston demonstrate in this essential volume. Featuring powerful synthetic essays by leading scholars and newer voices, and thoughtful reflections on teaching methods, Teaching US Military History is an outstanding resource for all who teach US history.’
Mary L. Dudziak - author of War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences
‘The United States military has a history. It is imperative for students to learn how that history has shaped so many aspects of our nation's past. This essential and timely book will help us teach that history effectively and honestly.’
James Grossman - Director Emeritus of the American Historical Association
‘Teaching US Military History is a remarkable achievement. It offers a practical teaching guide by leading scholars while breaking the long-standing impasse between operational military history and social, economic, and cultural approaches that have stifled the subject. Its insights extend well beyond American history.’
Joseph Maiolo - War Studies, King’s College London
Loading metrics...
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.
The PDF of this book complies with version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range of users and attains the highest (AAA) level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive accessibility guidelines.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.