What is your favorite part about U.S.History?

[random3434]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

 

[Mad Scientist]

World War II.

 

[Annie]

Colonial and Constitutional Era. The Civil War is probably one of the most interesting in AP though.

 

[Sunni Man]

The battle for the Alamo in Texas

 

[dblack]

The best part of US history, in my view, is the extent to which ideas and principles have overcome self-interest and lust for power. It's not a perfect record, not even close, but there are shining examples. One I find particularly inspiring is something that is often used to discredit the formation of our nation, and that is the history of slavery.

It's often pointed out that many of the founders were in fact slave owners. To me, the remarkable aspect of this observation is not the hypocrisy or personal weakness of men who espoused principles of freedom and equality, while actively violating them. What was remarkable was the transcendent strength of the ideas they espoused, eventually overturning the status quo and upending a system that many of the founders and their heirs depended on for their wealth and privilege.

To me that's a beautiful and powerful thing. Our ideals can raise us up and make us better as people.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

I find the Reconstruction Era the most interesting, as the Nation struggled with various conflicts and issues in an effort to re-unite.

 

[Luissa]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I took US History a few years ago in college. My favorite part was the civil war.

 

[Trajan]

I agree with Annie..the 10 years leading up to, then the war, then the 5 years there after.

 

[rightwinger]

Civil War
WWII
Civil Rights Era
60s

 

[American Legacy]

The Founding Era. Understanding everything else rests on and stems from that.

 

[xsited1]

...

What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I like checking out the hot women from the Civil War era.

Women of the American Civil War Era

Check out this hottie:

 

[Flopper]

WWII
Civil War
50's & 60"s

 

[JBeukema]

The battle for the Alamo in Texas

That's not American history.

 

[Two Thumbs]

I don't have a specific era that I love over the others.

It's hearing about the hero's. The men and women that put it all on the line, day in and day out to do what they felt was just.

Nathan Hale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the Gallows; "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Now that takes some brass

 

[Sunni Man]

The battle for the Alamo in Texas

That's not American history.

Really??

Seems like it was in my American history books in both high school and college.

 

[JBeukema]

In the 1920's and -30's, America encouraged the propagation of the fittest members of its population and discouraged the reproduction of the less fit.

20-30 years later, when the generation(s) resulting from these efforts constituted the bulk of the working population (when they were in their 20's and 30's), we experienced a golden age. This was the same generation (19-34 years of age during the war) that constituted the bulk of our fighting force in WWII. They are the children of the Greatest Generation, which survived the Great Depression.

America was arguable at its peak when this generation thrived.


In the 1960's and -70's, 'free love' was encouraged and the devaluation of life and spread of sexual irresponsibility that came with the widespread adoption of abortion led a significant increase in out-of-wedlock marriage. Meanwhile, we've grown lax with our borders and no longer enforce strict immigration controls. The result of this degeneration of social norms the American stock? Large swathes of the population on the gov't teat, increased crime and STD rates, the decline of America compared to other powers in terms of average IQ and standardized test scores, manufacturing, and just about all other measures beyond raw military might.

History has many lessons to teach us. It's a shame we never seem to learn.

 

[Cecilie1200]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I've always found US History to be more exciting and interesting than European History. We're such a robust, rambunctious, ornery group of people! Find me any other nation that has gone from non-existent to THE world power in just two centuries.

Granted, teachers have a tendency to leach all of the juice out of American history (or any history, nine times out of ten) by making it all about dry, dusty dates and names. What makes history interesting is the people, the personalities, the STORIES. I have a book at home that tells the unknown stories of American history, which I will give you the name of as soon as I get home. If she can't find anything in there to fascinate her and make her want to learn more, she's just not trying.

Some of my favorites are the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, the election of Rutherford B. Hayes, and the fistfight that broke out in the House of Representatives in 1857. It always amuses me to hear people talk about how "uncivil" partisan politics has become, since I know how many times in the past US politicians have attacked each other physically, as opposed to with just words.

 

[Mr_Rockhead]

Revolutionary War

Civil War

 

[JBeukema]

Revolutionary War

Civil War

No such things exist. America has never experienced a revolution or a civil war

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Almost all US history is fascinating, even up to today. It's full of war, unrest, intrigue, panics and power. Makes for some great reading. My favorites might be the beginning of Imperial America (1898-1917) or WWII/Early Cold War.

Costa Rica, not so much. There's some interesting points (1820s-1840s, 1940s-50s, 1970s-80s), but most of it is pretty boring. But hey, I'm not complaining, like Tom Jefferson said:

Blest is that nation whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say.