From Pamphlets to Podcasts: an Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Series – serie

A handbook for teaching Washington's legacy, the American founding era, and responsible engagement in contemporary civic lifeCrafted by a diverse group of expert historians, museum professionals, and K–12 teachers, Learning Through George Washington is an engaging, multifaceted exploration of how to teach and learn about the American Revolutionary era. For more than twenty-five years, these educators have gathered at Mount Vernon to participate in dynamic dialogues about Washington's life, eighteenth-century America, and the challenges of teaching this complex history to everyone from the curious public to advanced college students. The essays, each shaped by personal expertise, tackle subjects ranging from interpreting primary sources to discussing controversial topics, such as American slavery and Native dispossession, with accuracy and respect. By emphasizing primary source–based inquiry, material culture, and effective pedagogical methods, this collection invites readers to explore Washington's legacy and its continued relevance today. Perfect for history enthusiasts, educators, and students, Learning Through George Washington not only deepens our historical understanding of the founding era but also provides valuable resources for further study, ensuring that Washington's call for the "general diffusion of knowledge" remains alive and well into the twenty-first century.

A handbook for teaching Washington's legacy, the American founding era, and responsible engagement in contemporary civic lifeCrafted by a diverse group of expert historians, museum professionals, and K–12 teachers, Learning Through George Washington is an engaging, multifaceted exploration of how to teach and learn about the American Revolutionary era. For more than twenty-five years, these educators have gathered at Mount Vernon to participate in dynamic dialogues about Washington's life, eighteenth-century America, and the challenges of teaching this complex history to everyone from the curious public to advanced college students. The essays, each shaped by personal expertise, tackle subjects ranging from interpreting primary sources to discussing controversial topics, such as American slavery and Native dispossession, with accuracy and respect. By emphasizing primary source–based inquiry, material culture, and effective pedagogical methods, this collection invites readers to explore Washington's legacy and its continued relevance today. Perfect for history enthusiasts, educators, and students, Learning Through George Washington not only deepens our historical understanding of the founding era but also provides valuable resources for further study, ensuring that Washington's call for the "general diffusion of knowledge" remains alive and well into the twenty-first century.

How James Madison and the milieu of the Virginia countryside he called home shaped one anotherJames Madison's World is a time-lapse of life in two central Virginia counties that captures two centuries of continuity and change. From the time that the first white settlers arrived in the early 1700s to the early 1900s some things—like agricultural cycles and the rhythm of life on the farm—remained essentially unaltered. Others, like the sources of political authority and the abolition of chattel slavery, changed life for residents fundamentally.Taking Orange and Greene Counties—home to the illustrious Madison family—as his setting, John Schlotterbeck focuses not on the father of the Constitution but rather on the ordinary people who lived before, during, and after he made his mark on US history. In so doing, Schlotterbeck unveils a rich tapestry of women and men, enslavers and the enslaved, laborers and employers, yeomen and gentry, saints and sinners. He describes in vivid detail how they, together, experienced and contested economic, social, political, religious, and cultural change as the country crept toward realizing the democratic promises woven into its founding. Bridging historical periods that most scholars treat in isolation, Schlotterbeck has produced a holistic picture of how a particular place, and its people, navigated the vicissitudes of American history.