Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence: to 1789

by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, William Bruce Wheeler, Julius R. Ruff

This successful Western history version of the popular Discovering series provides a broad range of both visual and written sources. The unique pedagogical framework includes The Problem, Sources and Method, The Evidence, Questions to Consider, and Epilogue and Evaluation sections in each chapter. This structure promotes critical thinking, sharpens analytical skills, and builds student interest in the subject matter. The text emphasizes historical study as interpretation rather than memorization of data, with actual documents and artifacts from which students develop answers to historical questions.

Genres: School

354 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1993

About the author

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) taught first at Augustana College in Illinois, and since 1985 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she is currently UWM Distinguished Professor in the department of history. She is the coeditor of the Sixteenth Century Journal and the author or editor of more than twenty books, most recently The Marvelous Hairy Girls: The Gonzales Sisters and Their Worlds and Gender in History. She is the former Chief Reader for Advanced Placement World History.