Tales Worth Telling

Stories of Selected Heroes/ Heroines Who Define Us as American

Tony R. Sanchez

• Publisher: University Press of America
• Year: 2013
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780761862253
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

In a set of stories about 17 American heroes and heroines, this book analyzes the hero concept in the nation's history. This book unmasks and reveals some of the United States' most beloved historical figures, reflecting their strengths, values, and flaws as no conventional history textbook can. Each chapter provides a comprehensive and complex look at the heroes and heroines who helped to shape a national identity. This book also examines the history, mechanics, and proven benefits of storytelling, identifying the form as an effective strategy to teach about some of the nation's most famous men and women. Each story concludes with a set of discussion questions that allow both educators and students to probe transcending values that are still relevant for young Americans today.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Hero Concept and the Return of the American Hero
• “Tell Me A Story: Examining the Art Form of Storytelling”
• The Man Who Could Have Been King: George Washington
• The Father of the American Revolution: Samuel Adams
• The American Rascal: Benjamin Franklin
• The Surly Rebel’s Defining Moment: John Adams
• Ahead of Her Time: Abigail Adams
• Champion of the Common Man: David Crockett
• The Conductor: Harriet Tubman
• The Hidden Man: Abraham Lincoln
• The Free Man: Frederick Douglass
• Comforter of the Afflicted: Clara Barton
• The Cantankerous Hero: Thomas Edison
• The Birdmen: Wilbur and Orville Wright
• Cultivating the Human Spirit: Jane Addams
• Breaking the Barrier: Jackie Robinson
• Always Do Right: Harry Truman
• The Forgotten American: Dr. Tom Dooley
• The Dream Keeper: Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Postscript
• Bibliography