Essaying the Past

Jim Cullen teaches history at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. He was previously a Preceptor in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. He is the author of nine books, among them Imperfect Presidents: Tales of Misadventure and Triumph (2007), The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation (2003) and Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition (1997).

Preface to the Second Edition ix Preface to the Third Edition xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction to the Student: Why Would You Look at a Book Like This? 1 Part I Thinking and Reading about History 5 1 History: It s about Time 7 2 What s the Story with History? 14 3 The Sources of History 20 4 Good Answers Begin with Good Questions 29 5 Search Engines, Research Ingenuity 35 6 How to Read a Book without Ever Getting to Chapter One 44 Part II Writing about History 57 7 Analysis: The Intersection of Reading and Writing 59 8 Making a Case: An Argument in Three Parts 67 9 Defining Introductions 74 10 Strong Bodies (I): The Work of Topic Sentences 86 11 Strong Bodies (II): Exposition and Evidence 94 12 Strong Bodies (III): Counterargument and Counterevidence 104 13 Surprising Conclusions 111 14 Scaling the Summit: Crystallizing Your Argument 118 15 Writing is Rewriting: The Art of Revision 123 16 Putting It All Together: The Research Essay (A Case Study) 130 Conclusion: The Love of History 149 Appendices A Writing an Essay: Ten Easy Steps in Review 152 B Essay Varieties: DBQs, Reviews, and Comparison Assignments 154 C Let s Give a Hand: Bibliographies and Footnotes 160 D Credit Scams: The Dangers of Plagiarism 170 E Web of Lies? Weighing the Internet 174 F A Glossary of Key Terms 177 G More Reading about Writing 182 Index 185