Tea at Trianon: New High School History Textbook

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

New High School History Textbook

From Yahoo Finance:

Lands of Hope and Promise, the newest high school history textbook in a series of highly praised, beautiful history textbooks published by Catholic Textbook Project, earns the highest praise from Monsignor Sal Pilato, superintendent of high schools, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and others.

“As a former secondary history teacher and principal,” says Monsignor Sal Pilato in recommending Lands of Hope and Promise to high school educators in the archdiocese, “I can say that these are excellent textbooks that really fill an important gap in our efforts to teach the full story of history, the honest story which includes the Church's role in the formation and growth of our country and civilization. I encourage you to look at them carefully and consider them for your American history courses.”

Michael Van Hecke, M.Ed., school headmaster, founder and president of the Catholic Textbook Project, is grateful but not surprised by the praise.

“We are very attentive to producing well-researched, accurate history textbooks that present history as a real-life human story,” says Van Hecke, “because ultimately that’s what history is; the story of significantly impactful human achievements and decisions, good and bad, over the centuries.”

“The journalistic, story-like narrative writing style of these history textbooks,” Van Hecke explains, “quickly engages students in a way that makes them want to keep learning and to keep reading.” (Read more.)