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Worlds of History Faculty Resources

Here you will find useful materials and best practices for teaching world history.

Probably the best resource for teaching world history, apart from the textbook and its resources, is the 27 part video series "Bridging World History." The Annenberg funded series is filled with useful material, organized chronologically and thematically, with 2-3 divergent cultures compared in each unit. It is now available on streaming video and a number of Kean faculty have incorporated it into their courses. Find it at:  http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/

There is a burgeoning number of organizations and resources devoted to the field of world history.

  • World History Organization  is by far the best. Join it, attend its conferences. Get to know the people and issues. www.thewha.org
  • Mid Atlantic WHA is the local affiliate with fall conferences. Join and attend, give a paper. The call for papers for the fall 2014 conference will be at: www.mawha.org with contact person/organizer Jaqueline Swansinger of SUNY-Fredonia. Deadline will be late August.
  • World History Connected is the e-journal connected to the WHA
  • Journal of World History is the journal connected to the WHA
  • Journal of Global History reflects a different point of view
  • H-NET list serve for world history is an invaluable source with multiple postings nearly every day. Sign up at:http://www.h-net.org/lists/subscribe.cgi. There are frequently extremely useful discussion threads with issues debated and important reviews, for example a terrific on  recently about WWI.
  • AP World History from the ETS folks has many many materials that are useful for us
  • "World History Matters" from the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University has access to two projects: World History Sources and Women in World History at http://chnm.gmu.edu/world-history-matters
  • World History For Us All is a terrific source which links to many of the above: http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/shared/links.php
  • A  new website that deals with teaching about world history is the Alliance at www.alliance.pitt.edu. It has its own standards for world history and is linked to both the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh and the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA.


There are many books and manuals written about doing world history. Here are some of our favorites.

  • Teaching World History in the Twenty First Century: A Resource Book, ed. by Heidi Roupp. NY: ME Sharpe, 2010. Last chapter is "A Basic, Briefly Annotated Bibliography for Teachers of World History" by the late Jerry Bentley. Absolutely classic.
  • World History: The Big Eras.A Compact History of Humankind for Teachers and Students. Companion to World History for Us All. National Center for History in the Schools UCLA 2009
  • Peter Stearns, World History: The Basics. NY: Routledge, 2011.
  • Ross Dunn
  • The Oxford series on world history of compact books written by the experts, very accessible
  • The Norton series on world history. Ditto

Attached to this page is our current quite extensive World History Bibliography with a great many books that you will find useful in teaching world history.
We are developing a list of favorite historical novels which cross borders. Here are some recent ones: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166481809/time-passages-the-years-best-historical-fiction. What are your favorites?
Here are other favorite new publications or materials:
http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2013/07/history-everything  On "big history"
https://col126.mail.live.com/?n=397270966&fid=1#n=406065520&fid=e61b48918f3e4e94af86074c236a8e8b  Focus on Global Resources:digital

Vice is nice: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1452  on alcohol in world history. Plus:

http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/dispatches-from-london-under-control-conference/#more-10229

There are also many compilations of world history documents. Each publisher has a world history source book. These are our favorites:

  • Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader, Kevin Reilly, ed. NY: Bedford St. Martin's, 2010
  • Wiesner, Doeringer, Curtis, and Wheeler, Discovering the Global Past, vols 1 and 2. NY: Wadsworth, 2006