An Age of Extremes Middle/High School Teaching Guide, a History of Us

The author has great way of explaining what happened in history and in a humorous way. Each chapter is short and easy to read.

I love this series! My kids are using the Joy Hakim History of Us series in school for textbooks (small, private school). My 6th grader is breezing through these books, but doing all of them, so even though this covers a part of US History that isn't always a staple for elementary school, we are covering it and enjoying the storytelling approach to history. This author is thorough, and teaches the development of American values & ideals through small stories that are incredibly relatable for students. Excellent tome!

I bought this as a required book for one of my education classes - teaching reading through content areas, focusing on reading through history. I love history, but I am not a fan on US history mostly because I feel I've heard all the same stories before!Not only does this book focus on UNUSUAL stories and just as important stories, it's told in a narrative that keeps readers entertained. I love that the chapters are only 4-5 pages long and written in first-person. I like historical fiction, but I've always hated reading history textbooks, even just tiny excerpts. I could sit down and read this entire book like a novel. I am SOO excited that we had this as a requirement because, as a future elementary school teacher, I'm going to have to teach history and I am confident that the students will love this history book more than any.That being said... because the chapters are only 4-5 pages and told in a narrative, more research is necessary by teacher or student. My teacher had each of us read different chapters and each class throughout the semester at least two students made a presentation on the chapter, where they used 3-4 additional sources. I love that it provides such an easy introduction to research and research papers, for both teachers and students.I hope that my district will allow me to use these books and then have a couple other history books as teacher's guides for excerpts. If not, then I'll just use my own copy and do read-a-louds but I absolutely love this book!

I use Mrs. Hakim's history books to teach my 5th/6th graders. Excellent. She is a story teller. This supplier was also excellent. Use them.

Absolutely fascinating. This book covers an era in US History that I know was only brushed on when I was in school.I consider it a huge plus that the author throws in a lot of sidebars on economics. Very straight forward (though probably simplified) concepts and descriptions. It really helped me pass it on to the kids when we needed to go over some of the other things that were happening at the time.Also, I appreciated that the author didn't shy away from presenting a somewhat more balanced view of the big industrialists: Carnegie, Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and Vanderbilt. New generations of students are often just taught that they were evil, with no more explanation, but their stories were unique. Carnegie was practically the original Horatio Alger, he started as a kid working in a factory and worked hard his whole life. Why wouldn't I want to teach my kids to work hard, too?Recommended for all history buffs as a great overview and a gateway to other study. After reading the section on Teddy Roosevelt, I went and bought the biography by David McCullough.