Honors Books

Honors Humanities has taught me an enormous amount about the history of the United States. The books we have read have filled in the blanks left by social studies and history classes in past years. Thanks to Johnny Tremain and The Witch of Blackbird Pond I have a better understanding of the Revolutionary War culture and events. The way the war was explained in history it seemed like the Revolutionary War was a spur of the moment ordeal not a long process that took years to get moving. The ideas of the people around the time were explained very well in The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The beliefs in witchcraft and the superstitions at the time were very interesting. I learned more than just these facts from the books.

Johnny Tremain helped me gain a better understanding of what the people were going through in colonial times. In history you are taught the facts and dates and very little in between. When reading a book from the point of view of a Boston citizen at the time of the Boston tea party is not only interesting but informative. You experience the conspiracy like you were there. Thanks to Johnny Tremain I understand the perils that the people went through before, during, and after the war.

Before I read Johnny Tremain, I thought that it was like the Boston Massacre one week, the Boston tea party the next, and war after that. After reading Johnny Tremain, I now know it took several years for the Revolutionary War to start. It was not a sporadic all of a sudden ordeal like you might think. In some ways I have learned more about the Revolutionary War from Johnny Tremain than I have from history classes. I may not have liked the book very much but I learned a lot from it.

From reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond I was taught about the religious and superstitious beliefs of colonial people. I already knew how hard life was for colonists from history class but, I did not know about how superstitious the people were back then. The almost unbelievable ways people thought at the time were very surprising to me. The way some colonists were described almost made me think less of some Revolutionary War patriots. I had no idea they were so accepting of the execution of their fellow townspeople on charges that were almost improvable. Some colonists seemed to be obsessed with convicting others of witchcraft. You do not get taught facts like that from history class. Once again, the book was not that exciting but, I learned from it. I see a repeating pattern here.

The combination of what I have learned from history class and what I have learned from these books gives me a clear picture in my mind of what life was like during the Revolutionary War and the years surrounding it. Everything is so much easier for me to understand thanks to what I have read. The books may not have been as enjoyable to read as my history textbook but, talking about them on the blogs was fun. It is good to learn about a topic from many different sources. What I have learned about American history is a good example of that.