Improbable Voices
A History of the World Since 1450 Seen From 26 Unusual Perspectives
Improbable Voices
A History of the World Since 1450 Seen From 26 Unusual Perspectives
Derek Dwight Anderson
Improbable Voices
This uniquely told world history interweaves the lives of twenty-six women and men who are not well known with the major political, economic, social, and cultural developments that have shaped the human experience through the course of the last 570 years. Meticulously researched and hailed by scholars, yet purposefully written for a broad audience, this book details the lives of doctors and musicians, aristocrats and artists, businessmen and suffragettes, scientists and generals who made essential, but now largely forgotten contributions to places and eras as diverse as Reformation Europe, Mughal India, Tokugawa Japan, colonial Australia, and post-colonial Kenya. Improbable Voices possesses both the vivid depth and the expansive breadth a satisfying history of the world warrants.
About the Author
Derek Dwight Anderson is an independent high school history teacher and librarian with 35 years of teaching experience. He is also a dedicated world traveler who loves museums, large and small. Improbable Voices is Anderson's first book and represents the cumulative integration of his professional and personal interests.
Derek holds a B.A. from Bates College and a Master of Library and Information Science from San José State University. He also studied at the University of Edinburgh. Currently a senior full time faculty member at Marin Academy in San Rafael, California, Anderson lives with his partner in Sausalito. He is currently teaching an interdisciplinary world history course that integrates history, art history, and studio art.
Author's Photograph of the Day
This past summer, I visited the Getty Museum in Malibu for the first time. I was delighted to see some of the objects in person that I have seen in textbooks for decades. I also appreciated items that wer new to me, like this Cycladic harp player from 2700-2300 BC., which was made out of a single block of marble I found the form quite compelling, for there is a grace in the way the musician lifts his face in song as he plays his instrument. Derek Anderson photograph, August 2021.
For the Classroom or the Book Group
How might Improbable Voices be used in a class or book group? For each chapter, please see various ways Improbable Voices might be used as a primary or supplemental text for a modern world history class or as a selection for a regular book group. There are discussion questions, writing prompts, project ideas, links to recent scholarship and more.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
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