Grow critically-thinking citizens in your social studies classroom.

Explore free curriculum resources by an award-winning high school history teacher, for social studies teachers. Students encounter events in US and world history while learning to evaluate sources, spot conspiracy theories, question analogies, analyze cause and effect, and recognize bias.

Decision Making Lessons in U.S. History & World History as of Dec, 2024

Published by Social Studies School Service Contact Kevin O’Reilly: criticalthinkinginhistory@gmail.com

U.S. HISTORY

Book 1: Colonies

  1. Columbus

  2. Jamestown

  3. Mayflower Compact

  4. Slavery- Barbados

  5. Iroquois- negotiating

  6. Salem Witch Trials

  7. Zenger Case

  8. French & Indian War – causes

Book 2: Revolution/Constitution

  1. Treaty of Paris

  2. Stamp Act

  3. Tea Act

  4. Declaration of Independence

  5. Articles of Confed

  6. Northwest Ordinance

  7. Constitution- powers

Book 3: New Republic

  1. Hamilton proposals

  2. Slave Petition 1790

  3. Neutrality Proc/Jay Treaty

  4. Alien & Sedition

  5. Barbary Pirates

  6. Embargo- War 1812

  7. Erie Canal

Book 4: Jackson/Causes of Civil War

  1. Election of 1828

  2. Jackson Reforms

  3. Election of 1840

  4. Poverty-Workers

  5. Abolitionism

  6. Mexico-Oregon Disputes

  7. Compromise of 1850

  8. Kansas – Nebraska Act

Book 5: Civil War/Reconstruction

  1. African-American Policies

  2. Commander-in-chief

  3. Home Front

  4. Freedmen’s Bureau

  5. Congressional Recon

  6. 14th Amendment

  7. Jim Crow

Book 6: Gilded Age

  1. Business Ethics

  2. Business – Labor

  3. Unions

  4. Strikes

  5. 1877 Strike

  6. Subsidies/ Immigration

  7. Child Labor

  8. Election of 1884

  9. Corruption

  10. Populism

  11. Election of 1892

  12. Tariffs- taxes

  13. Election of 1896

U.S. HISTORY

Book 7: Imperialism/Progressivism

  1. Spanish –American War

  2. Philippines, 1899

  3. Panama Canal

  4. Progressive reforms

  5. Portsmouth Treaty

  6. Triangle Fire

  7. Election of 1912

  8. Lawrence Strike

  9. Women’s Suffrage

  10. Mexican Intervention

Book 8: WW I/ 1920’s

  1. Neutrality – War

  2. War Industries Board

  3. Creel Committee

  4. League of Nations

  5. Chicago Race Riots

  6. Red Scare

  7. Inflation/Taxes

  8. Election of 1928

Book 9: Depression/ WWII

  1. 1932 Election

  2. Causes of Depression

  3. Recovery Proposals

  4. Relief Proposals

  5. Reform Proposals

  6. Neutrality – War

  7. GI Bill

  8. Atomic Bomb

Book 10: Cold War/1950’s

  1. Yalta

  2. Cold War Policies

  3. Election of 1948

  4. Korean War

  5. Mossadegh, 1953

  6. Guatemala, 1954

  7. National Highways

  8. Civil Rights

Book 11: 1960’s/ Vietnam

  1. Election of 1960

  2. Bay of Pigs

  3. Missile Crisis

  4. Great Society

  5. Early Vietnam

  6. Vietnam, 1964-65

  7. Birmingham, 1963

  8. Election of 1968

Book 12: Modern America

  1. Energy Policy 1970s

  2. Soviets-Afghanistan

  3. Reaganomics

  4. Iran Contra

  5. NAFTA

  6. Election of 2000

  7. Terrorism Response

 

WORLD HISTORY

Ancient History

  1. Egypt, Mesopotamia

  2. Athens, Sparta

  3. Peloponnesian War

  4. Punic Wars

  5. Reforms-Rome

  6. Cleopatra

  7. Han Dynasty

Medieval History

  1. Fall of Rome

  2. Feudalism

  3. Crusades

  4. Magna Carta

  5. Mongols

  6. Mansa Musa

  7. China’s Great Fleet

Renaissance Era

  1. Renaissance Florence

  2. Slave Trade

  3. Aztecs, Incas, Mayas

  4. Reformation

  5. Spanish Armada

  6. Tokugawa Japan

  7. Galileo and Church

18th Century

  1. Ottoman Empire

  2. East India Company

  3. Peter the Great

  4. Early Industrialization in Britain

  5. Causes of the French Revolution

  6. French Revolution, Terror

  7. Catherine the Great

19th Century

  1. Napoleonic Era

  2. Opium War

  3. Reform in Britain

  4. Perry and Japan

  5. German Social Reform

  6. Imperialism in Africa

  7. Sino-Japanese War

20th Century

  1. World War I

  2. Russian Revolution

  3. Versailles Treaty

  4. Munich Crisis, 1938

  5. Great Leap Forward

  6. Thatcherism

  7. Fall of USSR

“People need to back up and say, ‘Where did I get this information and how reliable is it?’ But you have to have critical thinking to think about the sources. Without the critical thinking…we stop talking to one another. And at the point where people aren’t talking to one another, our democracy is in big trouble.”
— Kevin O'Reilly, author of Critical Thinking in U.S. History curriculum series

Kevin O’Reilly

taught high school history for 39 years, 35 of which were in the Massachusetts public school system. He coached students to win more than 20 national awards at National History Day. His passion for teaching and classroom acumen have been recognized in numerous awards, including NCSS/Time Magazine National Teacher of the Year, Richard Farrell National Teacher of the Year, NASDAQ/NCEE National Grand Prize for Economic Education, NCHE Gagnon Prize, American Historical Association Beveridge Teaching Prize, History Videotape Bronze Apple Award, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship on the Industrial Revolution. Kevin has published 29 books on critical thinking and decision-making in history. Browse the US and World History curriculum listed on this website, or send us an email if there’s a topic you’d like to see covered and he might just create something for your classroom!

““I came [to college] with more primary source analysis skills than I knew what to do with, and they served me so, so well. From a class where we analyzed NSA documents…, to a discussion course where I was able to refute a classmate’s straw man argument, to the way I write and think and read, Mr. O’s lessons are everywhere.”

— Catherine, former high school student