Textbook Edits

It makes sense for the textbook to begin with background information and the rise of fascism in various countries in a chronological order. And also it helps that it keeps going into the actual combat of the war year by year and battle by battle. However, it becomes confusing when the textbook back tracks to the Holocaust. I wish when informing us about Hitler's rise to power in Germany the textbook would stop at just that; his rise to power. When it treads on into how they had the Nuremberg Laws and the Kristallnacht, it is not easy connect those events to the Holocaust. If they gave the whole view of how German society changed, especially for the Jews, and then onto the Holocaust, I believe it would be much more effective. Also I wish they had a longer, more detailed timeline at the end of the chapter including all events, battles and the terrors of the Holocaust. Lastly, I would title my chapter, "World War II: The Second War to End All Wars".

My Take on the Textbook

I like the textbook's take on separating WWII and the Holocaust because I think it allows you to get a better understanding of one of the motives behind WWII. However the Holocaust was a lot more than just one motive behind WWII. I think describing it in depth and having a whole chapter on it shows its significance not only to learn from this mistake in the future, but because it is one- if not the biggest genocide we have seen. Since the Holocaust is still very recent in world history it is not said this won't happen again, but focusing this much on one issue illustrates the severity of the genocide. I think the Holocaust is way to broad of a topic to try to fit into the WWII chapter because this chapter would have to cover too much information and start to become tedious. As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is a famous quote that is usually associated with Holocaust which is what I would name my chapter on the Holocaust. 

Would you like a little Holocaust with that WW2?

I do understand why the book separates WW2 and the Holocaust, I can understand their decision making, and their intentions.  They wanted to explain the two separately because they are technically two different things involving different people.  The Jews who were starved in the Holocaust weren't fighting in WW2, although they were partially the reason WW2 happened.  Although I understand why the textbook made this decision, I don't agree with it because it makes no logical sense.  Why would you separate what germany did to cause the war, and the war itself.  In any other chapter, the book would have explain the cause of the war along with the war itself.  For some reason, just because it is the "Holocaust" this time there is some exception.  I tend to disagree.  Although WW2 and the Holocaust are much more important topics than many other wars, I see no reason to separate the two.  If I were making my own chapter, I would keep the two together to show that they are essentially one entity and one would not come without the other.  I would stress the importance of the Holocaust and WW2 by just making the chapter longer and therefore more significant.  My chapter would be titled something, I don't know, witty I guess would be the word that I'm going for.  Something like, "Would you like some Holocaust with that WW2?", Just an idea.  Maybe a little to casual.

Textbook organization

I think that chapter 24 in the book was organized moderately well, but not perfectly. It seemed like they tried to organize chronologically, but also stick to a certain topic, which was useful because you got information about any group, country, or historical turning point. However, that messed up the chronology. If I were to make the textbook, I would keep it the way it is, but at the end of the chapter, I would add a timeline of everything from the chapter. They have small timelines scattered throughout the chapter, but that isn't helpful if you are simply looking for dates of events.

Same as before: Boring but effective

I believe that the way the textbook sets up the history of WWII and the Holocaust works well, however the writing style often bores me. I love to learn about history, yet this book often puts me to sleep. The information is valid, yet I would rather swallow a nail then read from the textbook. The way they spilt up the information makes sense to me. They begin the chapter by explaining fascism and totalitarian state. After this it describes the Nazi Germans and discusses Hitler's life. It is slowly setting us up for WWII. This is where I believe the text goes in the wrong direction. After explaining Japan, U.S.S.R., and Italy the book goes straight into the thick and thin of the war. If I wrote a textbook I would instead explain the New Order of Germany, the Holocaust, the S.S., and the death camps. I also would have described the New Order in Asia and perhaps the homefront. This would give the reader more of a backdrop for the times and would help the reader better understand the war to follow. If I were to name the chapter I would name it, "New Orders, Oppressive Leaders, and another World War." I believe this title encompasses the main ideas of the chapter and is also quite catchy.

Textbook Layout

I think that separating the Holocaust from the rest of World War II is a really misleading way to organize a textbook. Doing so would make people wonder how the events were really related to each other in terms of which aspects of the Holocaust effected which parts of the war. In general, I think it is difficult to accurately assess the timeline of an era when the two major events occurring at that time are separated. Therefore, I would include it all in one giant chapter organized chronologically. I would separate it into a series of blocks of years. For example, 1933-1935 might be one subcategory. It would be based on what makes the most sense relative to the history that occurred in a certain period of years. Furthermore, I'd break up each block into the countries that contributed to the events of that time, detailing what was going on where. The order that the countries were mentioned would basically depend on which countries actions caused the ramifications on the rest and the events thereafter. Overall, I think it is best to organize a textbook in the order that events happened in history. It is the best way to show cause and effect and inflict a true understanding of the progression of history. 

Chapter Textbook Edited

Upon thinking a little bit more about the organization of "my chapter" in the textbook, I think that I have a slightly different opinion of it now. Before, I saw that these events that were happening were very difficult to understand unless you knew exactly the chronological order. Though I think that this is a very important element, I think that it is very important to understand events separately, and not jump back and forth between ideas and places, which is what might happen if it was organized strictly in chronological order. I think that this stuff is very complicated, and I would organize my chapter much like the textbook is now, where it provides specific details and insight about individual things rather than just going in order and jumping around

My Textbook

If I was to design a textbook I would most likely do a simple explanation of each country and the factors that may have contributed to how WWII was started. I then would have simply gone through the war in chronological order, but broken up into sections for each country.

For example, I would have a year, then the different countries and what happened during that time period. I think this would be the best way to convey what happened, because you are getting the specifics of each country, as well as what happens globally. This is also a good way to do it because it gives you a complete sense of time, and in what order things happened.

The Effects of Dictatorial Regimes (WWII)

I believe the way that the information about WWII in the textbook is organized, is the more effective and simple way to display the information. Chapter 24 has a great start, discussing totalitarianism and introducing us to what regimes were imposed at the time. Then we are introduced to the rulers of the time period and what they did with their power. 

Instead of mixing up  the information about all the countries into one large story, the author of this textbook chose to create mini stories; each one telling all the information about that specific country. The author told each side of the story of WWII from each countries perspective. This method of writing, I believe, makes the info easier to take in and learn. 

YES, I do believe that making the Holocaust a distinct section was a good idea because that way, it is separate from everything else and this shows the significance of that period in history and makes the reader pay more attention. The information about the Holocaust being displayed in story form  ( information is mixed together and put into chronologicalorder  like a time line ) would have not been as effective and would have been too much to handle at once. 

The title of my chapter would be The Effects of Dictatorial Regimes (WWII)

WW2, The Holocaust and Our Texrbook

Our textbook is very efficient in how it tells the story of the very loaded period that is WWII. When most people think of WWII, the Holocaust and Hitler come to mind. And while this is what most people equate the war to these events and people, they are not the only event and people that helped give WWII its name as an atrocious war. There were multiple events that led up to the war and that occurred before the Holocaust. The same is goes for names. So it is only in the interest of chronology that these events and people be placed between introducing the reasons for WWII and the Holocaust.
If I were to design this chapter, I too would keep these different features of WWII in this order. This way of showing this chapter in history helps show the complexity in human interactions,a nd how one thing leads to another.
A name that would summarize this part of history well would be "A Belligerent World: The Rise, Wage and Consequences of WWII"

Textbook Design

Our class textbook separates the information by country rather than by date. This is an effective method, particularly in this case where there is tons of information packed into a short time span. However, if I were to write a textbook i would have had a few differences. Most importantly, I would have had a short section in the beginning that simply ran through the whole war in chronological order, including the holocaust. This brief overview would help organize the events of the war so there was a base guideline for the reader to place the more detailed array of events against. Also, I would group the allied countries and the axis countries in the order of presentation. I would call the chapter "The Horrors of World War II and the Holocaust."

Similar Textbook Construction

Our textbook separates the events leading up to the Holocaust and WWII by country instead of by date, which for this chapter I thought was appropriately done because so much was going on at once that inserting all that was going on in one year in all the different countries would have gotten all scrambled up. I much prefer to fully learn what happened in one country at one time and then move on to the others, so that I can naturally weave the chronological order together in my head. If I was writing this textbook, I would have done this chapter very similarly as it was done in our history textbook. I would title it The Holocaust and WWII, start with an introduction of early fascism and then its first real application with Mussolini in Italy. Then I would dive into Nazi Germany and complete the German history before moving on to the countries. Then while introducing other events experienced by other countries I would weave in connections to Germany.

The Pieces of WWII

I personally completely disagree with having the Holocaust separate from the other sections of WWII. I think that by having the Holocaust separate, you don't get the affect of how terrible it was, and it is hard to see where it comes into place, and how it connects in relation to the rest of the events that occurred during WWII. If I were to organize and order the years 1933-1945 I would write the textbook in chronological order. If you do it in chronological order, the reader can easily make connections to each event, and be able to form a better understanding of what happened, and why it took place. If the text book isn't in chronological order then the reader won't be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and won't be able to understand completely understand.

Here is what it would look like...

The Pieces of World War II
1933:
-January, 30 Hitler becomes chancellor.
-Hitler reveals desires of creating authoritarian leadership.
1935:
-March 9 ,Hitler announces creation of air force ( a week later he announces that there will be a draft).
-Mussolini uses his imperial expansion by attacking Ethiopia.
1936
-March 7, Hitler sends troops t Rhineland which was France's territory according to the treaty of Versille.
-Hitler achieves a diplomatic revolution.
-Chiang Kai-Shek kidnapped by military forces--> formation of a new united front against the Japanese.
1937:
-July Chinese and Japanese forces collided on the Marc Polo Bridge.
-Japanese attack China in the summer.
1938:
-March 13, Hitler annexed Austria to Germany.
-September 15, Hitler demands the cession of Sudetenland.
1939:
-March Germany occupied the Czech lands , and Slovaks declared their independence from the Czechs.
-March 15, in Prague, Hitler declared himself the greatest German of them all.
-August 23, Hitler announced his nonaggression pact with Stalin.
-Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland amongst themselves.
1940:
-Summer, Japan demanded the right to occupy airfields to benefit from economic resources in French Indochina
-France and Britain declared war
-Winter passed and on April 9, Hitler resumed war and attacked Denmark, and Norway
-May 10, Germans attacked Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
-June 22, French capitulated
-August the German air force launched a big offense against the British air force, navy, harbors, and communication centers.
-September the Germans had lost the battle of taking over Britain
-Mussolini invades Greece
1941:
-April, German troops took over Yugoslavia and Greece to secure the Balkans.
-December 7, Japanese Naval bases attack Pearl Harbor.
1942:
-spring most of Southeast Asia and The western Pacific was under Japanese control.
-Hitler captured the entire Crimea
-Fall war had turned against Hitler
-November, British and American forces invaded French North America
-May 7, in the battle of the coral sea American forces held back Japan.
-June 4, America won the battle of Midway Island and established naval superiority.

1943:
-Allies agree to fight until the Axis powers surrender
-British and Americans forced the Germans and Italians to surrender
-Hitler's troops forced to surrender in Stalingrad.
-Allies carried the war to Italy.
-Soviets re-occupied Ukraine
1944:
-June 4, Rome was now in the hands of the allies.
-Allies landed 5 assault divisions on the beaches of Normandy.
1945:
-Allied armies moved towards the Elbe River.
-Soviets occupied Warsaw and entered Berlin.
-Hitler moved into a bunker 55 feet underground to direct the end of the war.
-April 30, Hitler commits suicide.
-May 7, German commander surrender.

Storytime in 1933-1945

This time period in general has many overwhelming aspects, it is practically a burst of insanity in a short time. It was a dense time period; obviously it involved many parties and ended many lives. By starting the the chapter by explaining the legendary figures involved, the textbook author initially humanizes a time period that could be easily broken down into a simple time-line. The textbook should be in chronological order, however. After all, this is a history textbook; While it may be more interesting, humanizing each event would also be overwhelming. If I were to write a textbook, I would write all of the events chronologically and introduce influential leaders at the beginning of the chapter. Even though many things happened in this time period, it would take away from that importance of it all if each portion were separated into different chapters (Holocaust in a different chapter than World War II).

Personally, if I were to write a book to get people invested in history, I would take inspiration from the American Girl Doll series...embarrassingly enough. I read these when I was really young and I remember a lot of unique events in the book that related to the effects of the war on the people. It's a tween concept, but easily relateable and makes history reading fun! There probably wouldn't be enough historical facts embedded into the storyline to serve as textbook material, though.

Elliot Horovitz

My step-grandfather on my mothers side fought in the European campaign in WWII. He was originally motivated to join the Air Force because he loved flying and he saw it as an opportunity to do what he loved. As he entered the war he quickly found out that there were many strings attached to this opportunity. For instance the part where he had to bomb targets in Germany and its outer limits. So I thought that I would ask him how he felt about killing people who he didn't know and who he had no idea what they had done to deserve to die. He said that the army didn't tell him exactly what every person did but they made it clear what it was that we were targeting. I couldn't wrap my head around it so what he did was he said that he felt that it was his job to bomb the military bases from the air and the marines would liberate the camps from the ground. I felt that what he did was obviously the right thing to do but part of me still thought that it might have been for the wrong reason, so was that right? Honestly, I have no idea....