Books are made of words, but not all words have equal weight. Understanding the deep meaning of the words may allow you to extract 75 percent of a book's content while reading only 25 percent of the text.
Title can be the most important word that is used in a historical book . A title which has been chosen carefully will suggest not only the subject matter of the book, but also its central argument E.g, The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Gordon Wood tells us right up front that he thinks the Revolution was radical. But if you cannot make out why has he named the title so in the end of the book then we can say that, he has failed in his task. Nature's Metropolis has a paradox for a title. A metropolis is a human creation, so how can it belong to nature? The text of the book answers that question. Not every title is so eloquent, but it is always worth asking why the author chose the title he did.
In order to have along with you, your best ideas--both your insights about the author's intended arguments and your own thoughts on the subject--to the section, essay, or exam where they can be evaluated and rewarded, you must take notes while you read. Luckily, academic press books generally provide ample margins for your thoughts on specific pages, as well as for lines, stars, question marks, and other symbols to mark key passages (a tidier alternative to highlighting or underlining). What you have to do here is to imagine that you are talking to the author. When he says something interesting, talk back or ask a question--and write your response in the margin.
If you are handed over a book, then it is possible for you to read that book in a very short span of time. Try it--test yourself! Give yourself, say, 45 minutes to look over a history book, after which you will write a page describing the main points of the book. This won't work with a textbook, which is too big and compressed and will probably have to be read more slowly--but you could do it with each chapter of a textbook.
Having figured out what the author is saying, how do you critically appraise the work? Unfortunately, some students find this difficult because they think such an appraisal requires that one be an authority in the field with which the book deals. Obviously, if you are an authority it makes the job of evaluation easier. But, equally so, to be an authority on every book you read is rarely the case for anyone; even a world authority on a given subject reads books in fields in which he or she is relatively uninformed. Yet he must try, if he is to be a thoughtful person, to come to some conclusions as to the value of the book. Likewise, you may not be an authority comparable to the authors you read, but you can exercise your critical faculties on the interpretations they advance.
All of us have at one time or the other have heard this saying “That’s one for the books!” Perhaps we have said it ourselves. What do we mean by that? We mean, of course, the history books. The meaning that lies in this is that there are certain events that are so significant that the world before the event and the world after the event are different.
At one time schools tended to teach history by having students memorize facts and dates so they could recite them. Today there is more emphasis on understanding the “story behind the story.” Here are a just a few of the subjects one may find under the general subject of “history”: Military History, American History, European History, Ancient History, British History, Civil War History (actually, any large war will have multitudes of books written about the causes of the war, the course of the war – often whole books about specific battles – and the aftermath or long-term impact of the war.) Some of these books become best sellers.
History textbooks, of course, must cover a much broader canvas, especially those for younger grades when the idea is to give students an overall view of what has shaped the world as they know it today. It is a challenge to write a book that covers many historical subjects without making it a recitation of facts and without leaving out background. It is also very difficult to write a history book that does not come from the political or philosophical viewpoint of the writer. Some would say that this is impossible.
It is very important for any person to have a clear knowledge about the following historical events:-
WORLD WAR 1
The whole thing began in June 28, 1914, when Gacrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old Serbian revolutionary, fired two pistols shots, killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary and heir to the Austrian throne. The other killed Sophie, his wife.
Serbia was held responsible by Austria-Hungary. It was on July 5 that Austria asked for and received from Germany a "blank check" of support for any action Austria-Hungary might take against Serbia.
Austria sent in a series of demands to the Serbians on July 23. These demands were planned to humiliate and virtually destroy the Serbian nation. Still, Serbia agreed to most but not all of the demands.
On July 28 Austria declared a war on Serbia. The Russians prepared them selves to defend Serbia. On July 31 the Germans sent a warning to Russia to stop mobilizing its army for war. On the other hand Russians ignored the warning, and Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. France came to the aid of its Russian ally by declaring war on Germany. The British hesitated, but when the Germans marched into Belgium, they declared war on Germany on Aug 4.
Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance, refused to back Germany and Austria-Hungary. Italy claimed the Triple Alliance was for defensive purposes only and Austria's declaration of war against Serbia was no defensive.
So in August, 1914, the guns of the war went off. The system of alliances for keeping peace had brought the great nations of Europe into war with one another.
The First World War Author: John Keegan
WORLD WAR 2
The name commonly given to the global conflict of 1939-1945 is World War 2. It was the greatest and most destructive war in history. Whereas military operations in World War I were conducted primarily on the European continent, World War II included gigantic struggles not only in Europe but in Asia, Africa, and the far-flung islands of the Pacific as well. More than 17 million members of the armed forces of the various belligerents perished during the conflict. Its conduct strained the economic capabilities of the major nations and left many countries on the edge of collapse.
The Rhine Crossing 1945 Author: Ken Ford
COLD WAR
Cold war is a situation in which there is unrest between two or more countries but they actually don’t have a war among them selves. This Cold War had once erupted between the two superpowers of the world United States and Soviet Union.
The Cold War began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a "hot war," nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They supported conflicts in different parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each other. Or they tried to make each other look foolish.
The Cold War: A History by Martin Walker
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