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ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8022290 HILSON, JEFF FAULKNER, III THE REFLECTIVE USE OF NOVELS TO FOCUS ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN-AMERICAN HISTORY The Ohio State University PH.D. 1980 University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EJ, England Copyright by HILSON, JEFF FAULKNER, III All Rights Reserved THE REFLECTIVE USE OF NOVELS TO FOCUS ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN AMERICAN HISTORY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jeff Faulkner Hilson III, B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed. The Ohio State University 1980 Reading Committee: Approved By Raymond H. Muessig Robert E. Jewett Robert H. Bremner Adviser ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser, Dr. Raymond H. Muessig, for all of his guidance and understanding. Special appreciation goes to my father and mother, Jeff and Jean Hilson, for a life time of support and care. And to my wife, Margie Hilson, goes my greatest respect and admiration, for without her direction, this work would not have been possible. ii VITA November 17, 1946, Born - Columbus, Ohio 1970 .......... B.A., Capital University, Columbus, Ohio 1973 .......... B .Ed., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1975 ............ M.Ed., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1976-1977 . Teaching Associate, Educational Humanities, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education Studies in social studies. Professor Raymond H. Muessig Robert E. Jewett Studies in American intellectual and social thought. Robert H. Bremner iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................... ii VITA ........................ iii LIST OF T A B L E S ................................................ vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ......................... 2 Objectives ....................................... 2 Assumptions....................................... 3 Limitations....................................... 3 Plan of Study......................... f. ......... 4 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE......................... 7 Introduction ..................................... 7 A Survey of the Relationship Between History and Literature ............................... 8 Definition of a Novel............................... 14 The Adolescent Novel ............................. 18 The Biographical Novel ........................... 25 The Detective Novel................................. 27 The Historical Novel ............................. 29 The Psychological Novel............................. 33 The Political Novel................................. 35 The Realistic Novel................................. 38 The Regional/Sectional Novel ..................... 43 The Romantic N o v e l ................................. 45 The Science Fiction Novel........................... 47 Using Novels to Animate Historical Understanding . 53 A View of Existing Textbooks in American History . 55 A Survey of Some Current Attempts to Increase Historical Understanding by Using Literature. 57 Teaching History Through Novels: High School. 59 Teaching History Through Novels: College............. 70 The Use of Novels to Teach Reading in the Social Studies Classroom . .................. 73 Controversial Issues as Vehicles for Reflection........................................ 76 iv Page III. METHOD OF STUDY 8 0 Introduction......................................... 80 Criteria For Selection of Source Books............. 81 Criteria and Selection Process for Novels ........ 85 Selection of Five Chronological Periods in American History...................................87 Development of Controversial Issues ............... 89 Category I (1763-1830): Controversial Issues . 90 Category I (1763-1830): Listing of Books and Plot Summaries..................................... 91 Category II (1830-1870): Controversial Issues. 98 Category II (1830-1870): Listing of Books and Plot Summaries................ 100 Category III (1870-1920): Controversial Issues . .107 Category III (1870-1920): Listing of Books and Plot Summaries.................................... 109 Category IV (1920-1945): Controversial Issues. .116 Category IV (1920-1945): Listing of Books and Plot Summaries.................................... 118 Category V (1945-Present): Controversial Issues. .128 Category V (1945-Present): Listing of Books and Plot Summaries.................................... 131 IV. CONCLUSION ........................................ 138 Summary of Study................................... 138 Implications of the S t u d y ......................... 140 FOOTNOTES .................................................... 146 APPENDIXES A. Listing of Controversial Issues by Historical Period and Corresponding Books Alphabetically by Authors' Last N a m e ......................... 155 B. Appropriate Books Listed Alphabetically Within Thematic Groupings..............................169 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................... 178 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Structural Types of Novels . ................. 52 2. Source Books for Tentative List of Novels. 83 3. Ten Criteria for Selection of Novels ........... 86 4. American History Textbooks Surveyed to Delineate Five Chronological Periods in American History ......................... 88 5. A Listing of Controversial Issues by Historical Period and Corresponding Books Alphabetically by Authors' Last Name........ 155 6. Appropriate Books Listed Alphabetically Within Thematic Groupings ................... 170 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Some strange commotion Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts; Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, Then lays his finger on his temple; straight Springs out into fast gait; then stops again, Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts His eyes against the moon. Shakespeare, Henry VIII Act iii, sc. 2, 1, 112 At some time or another, all history teachers have seen such behavior in a student who has just been assigned to read an article, to take notes from a lecture, or to answer a chapter question. Even Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), First Earl of Oxford and Prime Minister from 1721-1742, upon his deathbed when asked by his secretary what he wished him to read, is purported to have said, "Oh, do not read history, for that I know must be false."'*' It seems that history, especially in the public schools, has a bad reputation for being nothing more than dusty indigestable bits of ghostly happenings of some past age holding little or no meaning for the present day. But, in fact, history as a discipline is not this at all. As Cicero stated, "To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?" Schiller (1759-1805) stated, "The world's history is the 9 world's judgment." 1 2 And so it would seem that an alternative method might be used for teaching history, especially in the secondary social studies classroom, that would keep that "strange commotion" out of the brains of students and their eyes, not "against the moon," but upon the world around them. Statement of the Problem As a graduate student attending history classes in which professors assigned novels as supplemental readings and as a social studies teacher in both an inner-city and suburban en vironment, this writer has experienced how novels can bring an historical period to life for students. There seems to be