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ReviewsReprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
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Stefoff, Rebecca. Women of the World: Women Travelers and Explorers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 141 pp. The women travelers portrayed in Rebecca Stefoff’s interesting book are a varied group. Most traveled alone; some with husbands. Most financed themselves through the sale of travel books; one used her family fortune. Most started as travelers out of a wish for adventure; some ended as scientifically respectable explorers, making important contributions to knowledge of the world. One was arrested as a spy. Some were European; some were American. Stefoff's achievement is to combine a narrative which is interesting and accessible to middle school readers with some key observations about the problems experienced by Western women over the last one hundred and fifty years. Isabella Bird Bishop was a Victorian Englishwoman who was continually ill until she started to travel in earnest in her forties. She shed her prim clergyman's daughter's ways, started to wear trousers, fell in love with a Rocky Mountain guide (whom she eventually decided not to marry because it would have limited her freedom) and travelled alone through some of the unexplored areas of the world, including Tibet and China. Fanny Workman was an American, whose husband was bored and wealthy enough not to work. During the 1890s, the two took advantage of this situation, put their only daughter in boarding school, and cycled most of the way around the world. Fanny was a feminist who spoke up for women's rights, though she was could not bring herself to wear bloomers, despite the fact her long skirts dragged on the ground and became tangled in her bicycle wheels. Although the Workmans started as adventure seekers, they later became known as scientific investigators and true explorers. Mary Kingsley is perhaps the best-known of the explorers in Stefoff's book. She escaped from a dreary life in England, and in the eight remaining years before her death at the age of thirty-eight, she travelled widely, spent time with a cannibal tribe in Central Africa, and wrote some of the most sympathetic and respectful accounts of African tribal practices and beliefs written in the nineteenth century. As these examples show, it is difficult to generalize about these women explorers. Apart from their gender and their love of adventure, they had very little else in common. Stefoff does an excellent job in bringing them to life, and in using an appropriate style for her audience. For example, Stefoff makes clear that many middle-class Victorian women, including Isabella Bird Bishop, suffered from a type of physical illness, characterized by fatigue and sharp pains. She wisely does not, however, go into the medical intricacies of "eurasthenia," but instead explains how many women of this era felt stifled to the point of physical illness by the limited options open to them, and that some women, usually self-financed, did something to break out of the roles prescribed for them. The book is well-illustrated with maps and contemporary photographs, plus a color picture essay on Mary Kingsley's African trophies. It would be a useful addition to any school library. The nine women explorers portrayed in this book are a fascinating group, and both boys and girls will profit from reading about them. Jane Lancaster "Doing History: A Model for Helping Teachers," A Report on The History Academy for Ohio Teachers. National Council for History Education, Inc. September 1993. This comprehensive report from the Ohio History Academy provides a rationale for history academies by supporting the contentions of "A Nation at Risk" and "Building A History Curriculum" that history education needs to be improved. Additional components of the report include planning, participants, the historian network, summer programs, follow-ups, evaluations, conclusions, and appendices. The U.S. Department of Education funded the Ohio History Academy in undertaking this project. The section on planning for the academy includes narrative on the preparation of the academy and the components of the program. Goals of the program were to provide additional historical knowledge to the participants in the form of three short courses, two of which would consist of content and the third focus on historical theory and methods. Participants were expected to be able to do independent work by evaluating primary sources and make historical judgments, engage in informal consultations, keep journals, develop teaching strategies, and plan for follow-up. The establishment of The Ohio Historians' Network was another goal of the program. The leaders wanted to narrow the gap between professional historians and history teachers by allowing time for the two groups to meet. The report states that establishing the connections could have been handled better since it experienced only limited success. The summer program itself was quite intensive with a typical day including American History and World History course lectures in the morning, independent study in the afternoon, with additional lectures in the evening. Using primary sources was emphasized throughout the academy. Integrating technology into history was also a goal of the program. The participants were divided into groups to facilitate discussions and development of materials. The focus of the follow-up was to develop teaching units, testing them in classrooms, and refining them. Professional presentations and the establishment of an informal newsletter were also goals of the follow-up. Observations and meetings were conducted. Participants were required to compile portfolios, complete journals, evaluate historical documents, and develop teaching units as evaluation for the program. The report includes sections describing what worked and what should have been done differently. Successes according to the report included using mentor teachers, mixing teachers from different grade levels, using cooperative learning, having participants do historical research, evaluating portfolios, and providing incentives. Improvements were needed in developing the relationship between the research projects and teaching units, the concept of a portfolio, and the historians network. The appendices provide additional information by including the recruitment brochure, syllabus, and document exercise. The report is an excellent review of the History Academy held for Ohio teachers. The entire process that the leaders went through in developing the academy is detailed. The goals of the academy are appropriate in attempting to improve history education, but also in making history relevant for the participants and eventually for students. The report provides an excellent guide for future history academies, enabling them to be even more successful. Cameron White Isaac, Katherine. Civics for Democracy: a Journey for Teachers and Students. Helping students become responsible, active citizens is a goal to which all teachers would readily subscribe. Finding genuine avenues for that participation, however, remains an on-going challenge. In Civics for Democracy: a Journey for Teachers and Students, Katherine Isaac makes substantive strides toward that end in writing a textbook that provides practical ways to encourage students to participate in the democratic process, while empowering them with the sense that they are in control of their own learning. Civics for Democracy is a Ralph Nader-sponsored Project of the Center of Responsive Law and Essential Information publication for high school or college civics students. It can also be used as a supplement in U.S. history or government classes. Following its direction, students should acquire both knowledge of major citizen action movements throughout our history and the necessary skills to participate in community projects. Ms. Isaac's effort offers teachers and students an active alternative to a traditional, textbook-centered civics course. The author divides Civics for Democracy into four major sections. Section One, entitled "Profiles of Students in Action" briefly describes seven successful projects, such as a protest by members of a Fargo, North Dakota high school who opposed being required to watch the news program Channel One during the school day. A lengthier Section Two (138 pages), "A History of Citizen Movements," details five issues (Civil Rights, Labor, Women, Consumers, and Environment) where citizen participation, often beginning at a local level, achieved far-reaching final consequences. Here Isaac thoroughly delves into the history of the five movements, presenting to students both specific details of each cause as well as an overview of American history. Interspersed in the text of these movements are personal profiles of leaders such as Malcolm X, Jeanette Rankin, and Caesar Chavez. After examining the background of the issues in this section, students will gain a better understanding of why a subject like sexual harassment is an important topic today. Another short passage, "Techniques for Participation," comprises the third section of Civics for Democracy. Here Ms. Isaac encourages students to become active citizens by first thinking and acting on a small-scale level. She offers logical and practical instruction on how to write a press release and start citizen groups. A segment entitled "Background Research" makes suggestions for using alternative press and television indexes, data bases, and documents of the Federal Governments. The last section of Civics for Democracy, "Student Activities," describes ten projects that can be conducted nearby at one's school ("Energy Wastehunt") or on a national scale ("Profiling Members of Congress"). Consisting of 113 pages, this part, too, is replete with specific techniques and methods for conducting surveys and evaluations, as well as identifying a myriad of groups to contact for guidance. Emphasizing her ideal of involving students in community service, the author includes descriptions of a toy safety drive and a "Time Dollar" program for which students create, publicize and manage a service where people exchange hours of their time for the time of other volunteers. The book concludes with seventy-five brief "Ideas For Student Activities" and thirty-one pages of contact groups. Despite its accomplishments, Civics for Democracy can be criticized for its lack of complete objectivity in the topics and time periods covered. Students would benefit from understanding more about the other points of view concerning the significant issues introduced in Section Two. Yet despite this shortcoming, Katherine Isaac clearly presents practical and inexpensive student activities that teachers can implement with a realistic amount of preparation. Civics for Democracy would serve as a valuable text for teachers who emphasize citizenship activities with their students. It would also benefit those instructors considering a change to a more student-centered approach to their teaching. In either case Ms. Isaac has succeeded in writing a textbook that challenges both teachers and students to actively accept the responsibilities of citizenship. Marc Feeley |
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