I think NBC aired this piece in 1995 to show the world that the U.S. does have regret about dropping the a-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although some of the WWII veterans were saying how dropping the a-bomb saved millions of lives from being lost in an invasion, the way NBC portrays the a-bomb dropping and the effects it had make people look at th U.S. as a "nice" country instead of a "jerk" country who has no feelings for the lost lives of innocent people. To me, this clip tells people that we as the U.S. have legitimate feelings for what we did and for the lives we affected. Also, this video tells us about how much information the government kept from the people. At the end of the video, you see all the people celebrating in the streets only knowing that Japan surrendered. What the government did not tell these people is that more than 70,000 japanese people were killed in Hiroshima and even more in Nagasaki. Today, people would have known the affects of the bomb the next day.

The Structure of the Textbook

Chapter 24 in the textbook is not structured chronologically. This would be a fine organization if the structure of the chapter actually made sense. However, the textbook jumps from one date to another usually without any sort of explanation or concrete connection. I agree with how it starts introducing key leaders and how they rose to power, but throughout the chapter's discussion of the progression of war with Germany there are passages about the path to war in Asia, and this combination can at times distract from both sides. In general, I think that the progression of WWII is a time in history that is too heavy with specific dates to not structure it in chronological order. In my own version of this chapter, I would have a section for war in Asia, then the rise to power of the fascist leaders and the progression of the war Europe, and finally the Holocaust. Within these sections, everything would be chronological. The chapter would be titled "A Time of Turmoil Throughout the World".

The Ideal Textbook

While I don't know if this would be the ideal textbook for most people, for me at least, the textbook would be better if it was written with everything in order.  While I do like the fact that there is a timeline that has all of the dates in it, and would put it in after every section to make sure people get a good idea on the separation between the dates and what was done in response to what, I think that it would be easier to read and understand if it didn't jump back and forth from Germany in 1934 to Japan in 1931.  In my textbook I would put everything all mixed in saying who did what, whether "who" is Japan, Germany, or the U.S, but all in chronological order.  For me, this would give me a little more perspective on what was going on when.

This would also allow the reader to have an easier time at going back to review.  Similar to the book, where if the timeline is after the section, then you know what is in that section by looking at what is on the timeline, in my book, the timeline will either be at the end of the chapter, or the different sections (sections broken up by date or by mood or actions of the war).  This will allow the reader to see, "Oh, this happened in 1934.  To get more information, I will go to the section about 1934."

Regarding the Holocaust vs. The War in General, I think that I would do it almost similarly to the book, where the sections are separate, but I think that I would devote more to it than our book does, because it is such an important topic.  Again though, I would try to present things in order, starting with the Kristallnacht, and ending with the end.  

While I think that our book gets the information across, I think that there are ways of making the information clearer and more understandable, as well as there probably could be a little more information added on some particular subjects.  There are probably many ways of doing this but I think that my changes would work the best.  (For me anyways.)

Edit: Title could be "I'll be home by Christmas."  While this probably applies more to WWI, you could probably say it in German based off of the diary of the german soldier in the book.  The second section could be:  "The Years of Broken People" again though in German, as a play on the Kristallnacht which is one of the first events to start off the Holocaust.

Homework, Tuesday March 17th/Wednesday March 18th

As promised the link to the video for homework tonight is right here. Please watch the one titled "The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb." And, of course, anything else that you'd like. Then post your response (prompt is on the assignment sheet) on the good ol' blog.

Textbook Format

The way that our history textbook is formatted seems very appropriate to me because they are totally different things. Although the holocaust is the main reason that the allied forces in Europe joined the war, it is a totally different thing, because the events that happened in the Holocaust are completely different than those in WWII. If you wanted to argue that they should be in the same chapter because one let to the next, you could make the same argument for many separate chapters in the textbook, because they almost always lead into the following unit. Therefore since the Holocaust is about Hitler and his reign and WWII is about a war throughout Europe, they should be in different chapters.

Textbook and Me

If I were the author of the textbook I would do things a bit different in terms of facts and events. First, the book does facts and dates in terms of events and big ideas. However, I would simply make all the facts, events, and ideas chronologically because I get confused when trying to make timelines and event sheets when we have read the events/ideas out of order. Also if you make the facts chronologically you can see what turns into what or the "domino effect" which creates abetter understanding what fell into what. The textbook uses a way to turn events and facts into big ideas which can be good for thesis ideas and essays so I see why the textbook portrays this style. Lastly, I think that the textbook should not have separated The Holocaust and WWII because there directly related and go hand in hand such as motives for the war and why people were fighting.

WWII/Holocaust...Separate?

When the textbook separates WWII and the Holocaust, it makes the Holocaust seem like a whole separate piece of history. To me, it does not make sense to separate the Holocaust with WWII. If I had organized the text book, I would have put the Holocaust together with WWII so they are taught at the same time. Although the Holocaust was catastrophic, I would not put it on its own pedestal because it did not occur in a totally different time period. Yes, the Holocaust was one of the most devastating events in world history, but I would teach it along with WWII.