Is It Time To Start Teaching U.S. History 3?

Students routinely take U.S. History 1 and 2, with the halves hinged at the Civil War.  The big theme throughout those courses is that expansion leads to conflict.  Then nuclear weapons showed up and the stakes of the conflict soared.  After civil rights movers, cold warriors, and global connectors, the world is a different place.  At some point in the future, the third phase of American history will be put in perspective.

The most likely end point for U.S. 2 will be 1991.  Most people don’t realize how much the world changed just as Bill Clinton packed up the Arkansas caravan and headed to D.C.  The Cold War against communism faded as technology destroyed communication as the world had known it.  With no superpower to despise and the internet on the rise (thanks Al Gore), Clinton’s focus became different than any president before him.  The times they were a-changin’.

Of course, nature abhors a vacuum so a new enemy rose up, and soon planes, buildings, and people became targets of the anti-West, radicals hell bent on destroying, well, most everyone.

If this U.S. History 3 course is created by mid-century (2050), that will be around 60 years to be covered in one survey course.  U.S. 2 currently studies less than 150 years (1865-Present) while U.S. 1 includes over four centuries.  Why the disparity? Are historians that bad at math?

See My Article In the PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE!

Click it right here for my latest piece which appeared in the Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. The article contains new research about legendary magician and escape king Harry Houdini.  [UPDATE: Just heard this story was one of the top 5 most emailed on Post Gazette!]