Elizabeth M. Fee - How to Survive Middle School: World History: A Do-It-Yourself Study Guide

Take a look at the word history. Do you see how the word story is hiding in there? Its actually good to think of history as a story. Its the story of humansfrom our earliest beginnings all the way up to this moment. On the pages ahead, youll read many, many stories. Youll see how humans throughout the ages have fought, failed, grown, and learned. Youll also learn why history matterswhy it always has, and always will.

Heres a tip right up front: History is often about powerwho has it, who doesnt and what happens as a result. Well come back to this again and again. History can also tell you what people believed, how they lived, and how they invented amazing things to improve their lives. Sometimes history is bloody and terribly unfair. But you can always, always learn something from it.

If you want to know the real deal about history, keep two things in mind: (1) Theres not just one story, and (2) whatever story is being told, it matters who is telling it.

Lets look more closely at these two big concepts.

Please dont think this study guideor any bookwill give you the whole history of the world. Its not gonna happen. We can never say: Here is what exactly happened. This is all of it, and its all true.

As youll see in the chapters to come, archaeologists and historians are constantly discovering new artifacts and sources of information. Sometimes, a fact that everyone accepted as true turns out to be wrong!

But more often, the challenge of history is to get the complete story. Many people in the past have written about events and ideas, but way more people never wrote one word. Why? Because they didnt know how to write, or they didnt have time, or they werent allowed to. For a very long time, the experiences of whole groups of people (like women, native people, people who were enslaved, and the poor) were basically left out of history books because they did not seem important to scholars .

Scholar: A person who completed advanced studies in a certain area. Historians are scholars of the lives, events, and stories of past peoples.

Archaeologists look for artifacts, the physical evidence of history.

For most of history, very few people in the world could read and write at alllike, not even the alphabet. Those few people who could read were mostly males in powerful positions. In ancient times, scribes, kings, priests, and monks wrote history.

Lucky for us, modern historians are filling in the gaps they left. For instance, historians might find, say, a diary from a wealthy, literate woman (most poor women were uneducated) or a letter by a slave who managed to learn to read and write, and they give us information.

And a few powerful people wrote on behalf of those who didnt have a voice. For example, after Columbus arrived in the New World, a Spanish monk named Fra Bartolomeo de las Casas wrote about the horrors endured by enslaved people.

The human story is gradually correcting itself and going deeper, but historians will need to keep uncovering the stories of those who have been silenced.

Also bear in mind that whoever is telling the storywhether its a king or a peasantwill see things from their own point of view. For example, if two people watch a soccer game and they focus on different players, they will tell two slightly different stories about the game. You could even say that everyone in the stadium might see a slightly different game.

They will watch for different things, and depending on which team they are rooting for, they are likely to tell the story of the game from that point of view. Considering point of view is HUGE if you ever want to understand history. Thats why we have equipped you with powerful binoculars.

HOW DO WE EVER KNOW ANYTHING?

So, what are you thinking now? Maybe its something like: Sheesh! So if only some people are telling the story, and people tell stories from their point of view, how do we ever figure out what really happened? Good question. Read on!

WHAT IS A HISTORIANS JOB?

Historians today are also telling a story, just like historians who came before. They write about facts, but they dont just say what happened (remember, thats dicey!).