Post Cold War Web Sites

The New York Times Learning Network ★★★★☆
This informative site offers detailed lesson plans and quizzes built around NYT articles. Check out the Lesson Plan Archive and search by keyword, subject, or grade level. Social studies lesson plans are objective and standard-based and are well supported by charts, graphs, and images.

Global Connections ★★★★☆
Global Connections: Putting World Events in Context provides the background information needed to understand events occurring in the Middle East. The site includes original materials created in conjunction with the Centers for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard and UCLA. The site also aggregates and contextualizes the rich resources available throughout public broadcasting, including material from Frontline, Online NewsHour, NOW with Bill Moyers, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, and many others. Designed with educators in mind, the site is also useful for those curious to better understand the Middle East and its relationship with the West.

The Price of Freedom: Americans at War ★★★★☆
This Smithsonian website skillfully integrates Flash video and text to examine armed conflicts involving the U.S. from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq. Each conflict contains a brief video clip, statistical information, and a set of artifacts. There is also a Civil War mystery, an exhibition self-guide, and a teacher’s guide. The New American Roles (1899-present) section contains an introductory movie and short essay on the conflict as well as historic images and artifacts.

The Gulf War ★★★★☆
This Frontline site offers a comprehensive and engaging history of the Gulf War from the perspective of those who participated. Major categories include Oral Histories, War Stories, and Weapons and Technology; there are maps, a chronology, images, essays, discussions of Gulf Syndrome, and more.

America Remembers ★★★★☆
The site contains pictures, articles, stories, videos, and a comprehensive overview of not only the day of 9/11, but also the days to follow, and the days leading up to it. The main categories of the site are “September 11, 2001” which includes a timeline of the day, “Faces of September 11” which includes direct quotes and stories from people involved in September 11, and “The Cleanup” which has photographs and clips. Other categories are: “Fighting Terror” which has links to articles on the war against terrorism, the rescues of people, recovery, investigation, and even information on Anthrax and “A Changed World,” with comments on chances for new attacks, the way Bush dealt with the war, and how much Americans were changed by September 11. If you’re having trouble opening the link in Chrome, try using a different internet browser.

The Next Millennium: Now What ★★★★☆
CNN.com asks 14 experts to outline their vision of the next 1000 years. If you’re having trouble opening the link in Chrome, try using a different internet browser.

War Against Terror ★★★★☆
Part of the CNN.com Archives, this site is an excellent introduction to the issue of terrorism as it relates to 9/11. If you’re having trouble opening the link in Chrome, try using a different internet browser.

AIDS at 20 ★★★★☆
Provides 350+ New York Times articles on the AIDS epidemic as well as video, fact-sheets, reports and nine articles specifically related to AIDS in Africa.

The Clinton Years ★★★★☆
PBS examines President Clinton’s years in office in this engaging study.

The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson ★★★★☆
Features interviews, speeches, a chronology and more.

CIA World Factbook ★★★★☆
The Factbook is a great starting point for amassing general information about individual countries.

The History News Network ★★★★☆
The HistoryNewsNetwork was created in June 2001 and features articles by historians on both the left and the right who provide historical perspective on current events. HNN exists to provide historians and other experts a national forum in which to educate Americans about important and timely issues, and the only web site on the Internet wholly devoted to this task. HNN is a nonprofit publication run by George Mason University, is updated daily, and averages roughly 1.5 million hits a month. Those of you who have visited the U.S. History landing page in Best of History Web Sites may have noticed that I link to HNN articles in the U.S. History in the Classroom section.

C-SPAN Classroom ★★★★☆
Access C-SPAN’s complete related program archives.

WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources ★★★★☆
Site is a good starting point for resources on international affairs

TV News Archive: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee ★★★★☆
This site contains a search-able database of news shows from 1968 to 1998

TIME Magazine Vault ★★★★☆
This site provides a search-able database of every Time issue from 1923 to the present

NPR Online – National Public Radio ★★★★☆
Has an extensive and search-able database of NPR’s excellent programs

Teacher OZ: Terrorism ★★★☆☆
This section of Teacher Oz’s Kingdom of History provides a useful set of links dealing with terrorism and, more specifically, with the tragedy of September 11.

Clinton Accused ★★★☆☆
A Washington Post report that covers the impeachment of the President and offers photos, documents, articles, and more.

ThoughtCo. Timeline ★★★☆☆
Timeline of major events in U.S. history from 1990-1999.

Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities, and more

The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Teaching Resources and Essential Questions:
A large collection of New York Times lesson plans covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, their depiction in the media, and the home-front debate surrounding them. Some of the links are no longer maintained, but many of the lessons plans are still available.

Intervene or Interfere? Exploring Forty Years of United States Intervention in Foreign Affairs
In this lesson, students will research the motives, actions, and results of U.S. intervention in foreign affairs between the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 2003 invasion of Iraq; they then present their research to class for comparative analysis. (April 7, 2003)

Peace Signs: Exploring the ‘Roller Coaster Ride’ of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
In this New York Times lesson, students review their prior knowledge about the peace process in Israel and examine recent steps towards peace. They then research key figures, events and policies since Israel’s statehood in 1948 and determine how they impacted the peace process, illustrating their effects as if the process were a roller coaster. Finally, students reflect on how the proposed road map for peace might change the path of the roller coaster they created. (May 7, 2003)

HistoryTeacher.net: AP United States History Quizzes
A New York teacher has produced a great general site for history teachers that offers AP-level United States history quizzes on many different periods and topics.

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