It's a Wonderful Life: What Hollywood Can Teach Us about History

Karen Johnson.

We live in a very visual culture.  One of the most important things we can teach our students is to take in the images they see daily with wise and critical eyes.  Doing history can help students (and all of us) move in that direction.

Today I want to point you to a blog post from colleague, Tracy McKenzie, on how the movie It's a Wonderful Life illustrates the importance of context for understanding people.  Check out the post here.  Tracy's insights might be a helpful bridge to talk about history with all the non-historians in your life at holiday parties.

And, if you like what you read, Tracy's most recent book The First Thanksgiving does a masterful job illuminating the process of historical thinking as it uncovers the myths about Thanksgiving and their histories.

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