James M. Banner Jr. - Böcker

In this unique collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a fascinating portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these influential historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and '70s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they thoughtfully chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields - including women's and gender history, social history, and public history - that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories - skillfully compiled and introduced by James M. Banner, Jr. and John R. Gillis - aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover a rare account of how today's seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.

In this unique collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a fascinating portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these influential historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and '70s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they thoughtfully chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields - including women's and gender history, social history, and public history - that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories - skillfully compiled and introduced by James M. Banner, Jr. and John R. Gillis - aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover a rare account of how today's seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.

This engaging and helpful book is both a thoughtful celebration of the learning process and a practical guide to becoming a better student. Written by the authors of the acclaimed Elements of Teaching, it is designed to help students of all ages—particularly high school and college students—attain their full potential for success in any area of study.James M. Banner, Jr., and Harold C. Cannon explore the qualities needed to get the most out of education: industry, enthusiasm, pleasure, curiosity, aspiration, imagination, self-discipline, civility, cooperation, honesty, and initiative. For each of these elements they offer general reflections, useful suggestions, and a description of a fictional student who either embodies or lacks these qualities. The second part of the book helps students understand the environment in which they learn, by focusing on such topics as teachers, the curriculum, ways of learning, and the transition from school to college. The core points of the text are reinforced by answers to questions that haunt students, as well as tips on what to do to become the best student possible. Throughout, the authors encourage students to consider learning as part of their lives and to be active participants in their own education.

A newly revised edition of this classic work, exploring the diverse qualities essential for teaching in today’s educational environment."A true classic. Every teacher and parent should read this book."—Diane RavitchAccording to Banner and Cannon, to be an effective teacher requires much more than technical skill. Great teaching is an art that combines a wide range of intellectual, moral, and emotional components. This classic work explores the qualities of mind and spirit that are essential for those seeking to help others acquire knowledge and understanding. It analyzes the specific qualities of successful teachers: learning, authority, ethics, order, imagination, tenacity, compassion, patience, character, and pleasure. Written in a clear and engaging style and applicable to all levels of teaching—be it in schools and universities or on athletic fields and in the home—the book encourages teachers to consider how they might enlarge their understanding of the great art of teaching.

An experienced, multi-faceted historian shows how revisionist history is at the heart of creating historical knowledge  “A rallying cry in favor of historians who, revisiting past subjects, change their minds. . . . Rewarding reading.”—Kirkus Reviews  “A wise, erudite, and, perhaps most important, a clearly written examination of the ways historians go about their craft of interpreting and reinterpreting the past.”—Gordon S. Wood, Brown University  History is not, and has never been, inert, certain, merely factual, and beyond reinterpretation. Taking readers from Thucydides to the origin of the French Revolution to the Civil War and beyond, James M. Banner, Jr., explores what historians do and why they do it.  Banner shows why historical knowledge is unlikely ever to be unchanging, why history as a branch of knowledge is always a search for meaning and a constant source of argument, and why history is so essential to individuals’ awareness of their location in the world and to every group and nation’s sense of identity and destiny. He explains why all historians are revisionists while they seek to more fully understand the past, and how they always bring their distinct minds, dispositions, perspectives, and purposes to bear on the subjects they study.

An experienced, multi-faceted historian shows how revisionist history is at the heart of creating historical knowledge  “A rallying cry in favor of historians who, revisiting past subjects, change their minds. . . . Rewarding reading.”—Kirkus Reviews  “A wise, erudite, and, perhaps most important, a clearly written examination of the ways historians go about their craft of interpreting and reinterpreting the past.”—Gordon S. Wood, Brown University  History is not, and has never been, inert, certain, merely factual, and beyond reinterpretation. Taking readers from Thucydides to the origin of the French Revolution to the Civil War and beyond, James M. Banner, Jr., explores what historians do and why they do it.  Banner shows why historical knowledge is unlikely ever to be unchanging, why history as a branch of knowledge is always a search for meaning and a constant source of argument, and why history is so essential to individuals’ awareness of their location in the world and to every group and nation’s sense of identity and destiny. He explains why all historians are revisionists while they seek to more fully understand the past, and how they always bring their distinct minds, dispositions, perspectives, and purposes to bear on the subjects they study.

Based on the author's more than 50 years of experience as a professional historian in academic and other capacities, Being a Historian is addressed to both aspiring and mature historians. It offers an overview of the state of the discipline of history today and the problems that confront it and its practitioners in many professions. James M. Banner, Jr argues that historians remain inadequately prepared for their rapidly changing professional world and that the discipline as a whole has yet to confront many of its deficiencies. He also argues that, no longer needing to conform automatically to the academic ideal, historians can now more safely and productively than ever before adapt to their own visions, temperaments and goals as they take up their responsibilities as scholars, teachers and public practitioners. Critical while also optimistic, this work suggests many topics for further scholarly and professional exploration, research and debate.