Discussion questions for "Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts" and "Why Study History?"

1. Who is Sam Wineburg?

2. What are the humanities, and what, according to Wineburg, can they teach us?

3. What is Wineburg’s aim or goal with this article? 

4. In this article Wineburg compares the “familiar past” with the “strange and inaccessible past”?  What does he mean by these two terms and why does he contrast them?

5. How do textbooks create an illusion of the past?

6. How according to Wineburg can history teach us the virtue of humility?

7. According to Rampolla, what kinds of questions should historians be asking?

8. Define the following key terms:

HISTORICISM

PRESENTISM

CONTEXT

9. Why do you study history?