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"Making Sense of the Holocaust is simultaneously provocative and poignant….It looks at the fine grain of individual teachers in their classrooms, and it also looks at the big picture of the moral overlay that teaching about massive injustice instigates in U.S. schools. This is a powerful mélange of curriculum, pedagogy, and the theories that undergird them."
—From the Foreword by Gloria Ladson-Billings"This important book teaches us that nothing is inevitable except that the encounter between good teachers and students and important material can have enormous impact in often startling ways. This work should be read by teachers and scholars and by all who wish to see how the Holocaust is actually taught in the classroom and what is learned by its students."
—Michael Berenbaum, Formerly Director of Research, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and current Director, Sigi Ziering Institute
"Simone Schweber's narrative pulls back the drapes from today's history classrooms and shows us in arresting detail their problems and possibilities. The word 'seminal' was invented to describe this book."
—Sam Wineburg, Stanford University
What lessons are conveyed implicitly and explicitly in teaching and learning about the Holocaust? Through three very readable case studies, the author reflects on the lessons taught, highlighting strengths and missed opportunities and illuminating important implications for the teaching of other historical episodes.
Features:
- The close examination of different narrative treatments of the Holocaust by experienced teachers working with diverse groups of students in American public high schools—all teachers were recommended for being pedagogically innovative and for affecting their students deeply.
- A focus on curricular enactments within particular classes that examine what students in each class learned from the Holocaust course.
- A non-partisan assessment that identifies the ideological debates surrounding the teaching of the Holocaust and provides guidance for navigating them.
- A critical assessment of many authoritative organizations and authors whose positions currently dominate Holocaust education."
