"The stories are fun and make the people memorable . . . I never knew history could be so interesting."
Student
"Not only does my class get started right away [but] all of my students are practicing higher level thinking skills."
9th Grade Teacher
"You'd be amazed at how good my students are at predicting this stuff!"
6th Grade Teacher
"I know I have told you this before, but I will tell you again. You guys are the best support system of any teaching resources! Thank you so much for making my job easier and better."
HS Teacher
World War I
Archduke Ferdinand Austria 1914 His assassination launched World War I.
Kaiser Wilhelm II Germany 1914 Ruler of Germany during World War I.
Alfred von Schlieffen Germany 1914 Designed the military plan for victory.
General Ferdinand Foch France 1914 Allied Supreme Commander.
Erich Maria Remarque Germany 1917 Author, All Quiet on the Western Front.
Colorful characters page 17
The Red Baron Germany 1916 Ace pilot in World War I.
Mata Hari Netherlands 1917 Executed as a German spy.
Lawrence of Arabia England 1916 British soldier, mobilized the Arab Revolt.
Eamon De Valera Ireland 1916 Leader of the Irish independence movement.
Emmeline Pankhurst England 1918 Leader of the suffragette campaign to win the vote.
Treaty of Versailles / League of Nations page 23
David Lloyd George England 1919 Prime minister, author of the Versailles Treaty.
Georges Clemenceau France 1919 Wanted reparations in the Versailles Treaty.
Woodrow Wilson U.S. 1919 Founder of the League of Nations.
The Russian Revolution page 27
Nicholas II Russia 1917 Last czar of Russia, executed by the Bolsheviks.
Rasputin Russia 1916 A mystic who influenced the Czar’s family.
Lenin Russia 1917 Leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Dzerzhinsky Russia 1917 Founder of the Cheka, the secret police.
The Soviet Union page 33
Trotsky Russia 1924 Former head of the Red Army.
Stalin Russia 1929 Created a totalitarian state.
George Orwell England 1936 Author of the novels, Animal Farm and 1984.
The rise of fascism page 37
Mussolini Italy 1922 Fascist dictator of Italy.
Franco Spain 1936 Fascist dictator of Spain.
Picasso Spain 1937 Painted “Guernica.”
Nazi Germany page 41
Adolf Hitler Germany 1933 Fascist dictator of Germany.
Joseph Goebbels Germany 1933 Minister of Propaganda.
Hermann Goering Germany 1933 Built the Nazi war machine.
Heinrich Himmler Germany 1933 Architect of Holocaust.
Appeasement page 47
Neville Chamberlain England 1938 At Munich, he gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler.
Molotov Russia 1939 Soviet diplomat who signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
World War II page 51
Winston Churchill England 1940 Prime Minister during World War II.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt U.S. 1941 U.S. President during World War II.
Generals in World War II page 55
General Tojo Japan 1941 Launched the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor.
Erwin Rommel Germany 1942 “The Desert Fox.”
Bernard Montgomery England 1942 British commander defeated Nazis at El Alamein.
Georgi Zhukov Russia 1943 Soviet general won the Battle of Stalingrad.
Dwight Eisenhower U.S. 1944 On D-Day, led Allies to invade Europe.
Douglas MacArthur U.S. 1945 Fought his way to Tokyo, Japan.
Hiroshima page 63
Albert Einstein Germany 1945 Proposed the Manhattan Project.
Harry Truman U.S. 1945 Drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
Emperor Hirohito Japan 1945 Japanese emperor during World War II.
The Holocaust page 67
Martin Niemoller Germany 1937 Lutheran minister who described Nazi Germany.
Raoul Wallenberg Sweden 1941 Rescued thousands of Jewish people in Hungary.
Anne Frank Netherlands 1942 Young girl who died in the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel Romania 1944 Author of books on the Holocaust.
Simon Wiesenthal Austria 1945 Nazi hunter; helped capture Eichmann.
Robert H. Jackson U.S. 1945 Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
Eleanor Roosevelt U.S. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Cold War page 75
Nikita Khrushchev Russia 1953 Soviet leader who built the Berlin Wall.
Leonid Brezhnev Russia 1964 Soviet leader who led the arms race.
Eastern Europe page 79
Tito Yugoslavia 1945 Communist leader of Yugoslavia.
Imre Nagy Hungary 1956 Communist leader of Hungary.
Alexander Dubcek Czechoslovakia 1968 Communist leader of Czechoslovakia.
Western Europe page 83
George C. Marshall U.S. 1947 Creator of the Marshall Plan in post-war Europe.
Charles de Gaulle France 1954 Accepted the loss of Vietnam and Algeria.
Willy Brandt Germany 1961 Berlin was the symbol of the Cold War.
Konrad Adenauer Germany 1963 West Germany became an “economic miracle.”
Clement Attlee England 1945 In Britain, established the Welfare State.
Margaret Thatcher England 1979 First woman prime minister of England.
Francois Mitterand France 1981 A socialist, he nationalized many industries.
Jacques Chirac France 1995 A conservative, he privatized many industries.
India page 93
Gandhi India 1947 Leader of India’s independence movement
Muhammad Ali Jinnah Pakistan 1947 India partitioned to create Pakistan / Bangladesh.
Nehru India 1947 First prime minister of India; nonalignment.
Indira Gandhi India 1966 First woman prime minister; led Green Revolution.
Mother Teresa India 1979 Missionary, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel page 99
Theodor Herzl Austria 1902 Founder of Zionism, a Jewish homeland in Israel.
Arthur James Balfour England 1917 Author of the Balfour Declaration on Israel.
David Ben-Gurion Israel 1955 First prime minister of Israel.
Moshe Dayan Israel 1967 Hero of the Six-Day War.
Golda Meir Israel 1973 Leader during the Yom Kippur War.
Menachem Begin Israel 1978 The Camp David Accords
Anwar Sadat Egypt 1978 The Camp David Accords
Yasser Arafat Palestine 1994 The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
Latin America page 109
Francisco Madero Mexico 1910 Leader of the Mexican Revolution.
Pancho Villa Mexico 1910 Leader of the Mexican Revolution.
Zapata Mexico 1910 Leader of the Mexican Revolution.
Juan Peron Argentina 1946 Populist president of Argentina.
Eva Peron Argentina 1952 “Don’t cry for me, Argentina”
Che Guevara Argentina 1959 Helped lead the communist revolution in Cuba.
Fidel Castro Cuba 1959 Leader of the communist revolution in Cuba.
“Papa Doc” Duvalier Haiti 1961 The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Jorge Rafael Videla Argentina 1976 Military leader who conducted the “Dirty War.”
Salvador Allende Chile 1973 President of Chile was overthrown.
Abimael Guzmán Peru 1980 Founder of the terrorist group, the Shining Path.
The Sandinistas Nicaragua 1979 Marxist group overthrew the dictator, Somoza.
Rigoberta Menchu Guatemala 1992 Won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Hugo Chavez Venezuela 1998 President of Venezuela, 1998-present.
China page 125
Sun Yat-sen China 1912 Father of modern China.
Chiang Kai-shek China 1927 Fought the communists, then invading Japanese.
Mao Zedong China 1949 Leader of the communist revolution in China.
Jung Chang China 1966 Victim of the Cultural Revolution.
Deng Xiaoping China 1978 Opened China to the global market.
Jiang Zemin China 1989 Host of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Kim Il Sung North Korea 1950 The Korean War, 1950-53.
Dalai Lama Tibet 1989 Independence for Tibet.
Southeast Asia page 135
Ho Chi Minh Vietnam 1968 Communist leader of North Vietnam.
Pol Pot Cambodia 1975 Communist leader, architect of genocide.
Ferdinand Marcos Philippines 1965 President of the Philippines, 1965-1986.
Imelda Marcos Philippines 1983 World-class shopper
Corazon Aquino Philippines 1983 First woman president in Asia.
Aung San Suu Kyi Burma 1991 Human rights activist, won Nobel Peace Prize.
Africa page 143
Frantz Fanon Martinique 1954 Author, The Wretched of the Earth
Kwame Nkrumah Ghana 1957 Leader of the independence movement.
Jomo Kenyatta Kenya 1963 Leader of the independence movement.
Julius Nyerere Tanzania 1964 Leader of the independence movement.
Patrice Lumumba Congo 1960 Leader of the independence movement.
Mobutu Sese Seko Congo 1965 Military dictator of Zaire.
Idi Amin Uganda 1971 Military dictator of Uganda.
Steve Biko South Africa 1976 Leader of the Soweto uprising against apartheid.
Desmond Tutu South Africa 1984 Won the Nobel Peace Prize, opposed to apartheid.
Nelson Mandela South Africa 1994 First democratically-elected president.
End of the Soviet Union page 155
Pope John Paul II Poland 1978 First Polish pope.
Lech Walesa Poland 1983 Leader of the Solidarity movement.
Ronald Reagan U.S. 1983 Brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev Russia 1985 Last president of the Soviet Union.
Boris Yeltsin Russia 1991 Led Russia into free elections and free enterprise.
Vladimir Putin Russia 1999 The President of Russia today
Helmut Kohl Germany 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall, unification of Germany.
Slobodan Milosevic Yugoslavia 1992 “Ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia.
The Middle East page 165
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Turkey 1923 Founder of modern Turkey.
Nasser Egypt 1956 President of Egypt, seized the Suez Canal.
King Faisal Saudi Arabia 1973 Founded O.P.E.C., created the oil shortage.
Shah of Iran Iran 1979 Too “westernized” for Islamic fundamentalists.
Ayatollah Khomeini Iran 1979 Leader of the first Islamic revolution.
Saddam Hussein Iraq 1991 Invaded Kuwait, caused the Persian Gulf War.
Osama bin Laden Afghanistan 1979 Founder of al-Qaeda.
Benazir Bhutto Pakistan 1988 First woman prime minister of a Muslim country.
A great way to begin class!
Have you ever herded bunnies?
Then you know how difficult it is to make students come to order at the beginning of class.
A gong works exceedingly well.
But how about a story?
71 stories!
Imagine your startled students - whether fifth graders or seniors - when you begin class with:
“Once upon a time . . .”
Storytelling
It’s hard to remember historical figures, much less why each became famous.
Storytelling can make each historical figure an individual and therefore memorable.
How it works
You tell a brief story about the person, then students predict why he or she became world famous.
Or, you tell about the problems the person faced and students predict the solutions he or she chose.
Childhood . . .
Around twelve, students begin to form their “world view.”
That is, they begin to shape their views on race and class, religion and politics.
The same is true for a boy or girl who grows up to become a famous person.
If you know about his or her childhood, you can predict what he or she will do as an adult.
Don’t take our word. Try it!
A fine summary
After hearing stories of the famous people, students will learn the historical era’s major concepts,
people and events, terms and definitions.
Great practice in Bloom’s taxonomy!
Students who practice critical thinking do exceedingly well on standardized tests.
These stories call upon students to exercise all six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy:
1. Recall The colorful stories help students recall the facts.
2. Interpret Listening to the stories, students learn how to read between the lines.
3. Apply Since the stories tell of each person’s childhood, students can easily relate.
4. Analyze Students can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each historical figure.
5. Synthesize Students are called upon to add up the facts and predict. (This is pure synthesis.)
6. Evaluate After hearing story after story, students learn how to evaluate an historical figure.
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