Help! History textbooks in english for highschoolers

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
1

I know there are plenty of teachers here, so I was hoping for some help in locating english language materials.

I teach “high schoolers” (age 16-19), and most of our books and materials are in danish. This is usually no problem, as all students speak and read danish more or less fluently.

However, this year, I have a very rare imigrant student. And while they can participate in classroom discussions and can follow in-class teaching just fine, they are struggling mightily with the required reading.

I was hoping I could provide reading materials in english for my student, as they are also fluent in that language (it is their home language). School officials have encouraged us to do this also. So -

Can anyone recomend an english language resource in the following areas, apropriate for a fluent english reader, age 17+:

American History (Xtreem highlights version)

  • An overview of American history, from the Mayflower to Obama (and not glossing over native americans if at all possible). The danish book I’m using has an 80-page overview, so something in that scale, if it exists.

  • African-american history, the slave trade, the civil rights movement, and race in contemporary America (the book I’m using covers this in about 40 pages).

-The book I’m using has short chapters on the LGBT+ rights movement, the abortion debate, how religion works in America vs. Europe, govenmental structure and elections, the american imigrant experience, how states work and why they are so different, the rise of value conservatism i.e Reagan, Moral Majority, megachurces etc. Any of this in teachable and neutral form would be great.

World History

  • The Age of Enlightenment and the age of Revolutions. Enlightenment philosphy, the American and French revolutions and the development of modern democracy.

  • The Industrial Revolution and the Age of Imperialism.

  • WWI, WWII and the Cold Wars.

  • World History since 1989, preferably focusing on political and economic globalisation, and a factual presentation of international terrorism.

Any help in my search would be greatly apreciated. The material doesn’t have to be in book form, and one book or resource does (obviously) not have to cover all of it. If you use or know of a textbook that has one chapter or section that more or less fits, it would be a great help. I have some funds available, and I can also ask the school library to order a copy of books or articles, so paywalls are ok.

Please help. I’m totally stumped.

2

It’s not a textbook and it doesn’t precisely cover the subjects you listed but I’d recommend American Dreams by H.W. Brands as a well-written general history of the United States from 1945 to the present (it was written in 2011 so it’s pretty up to date).

3

http://www.ushistory.org/textbooks.htm

It’s an online textbook but it’s created by real historians and is probably perfect for what you’re trying to get at as you can pick the relevant topics you need to cover. I’ll look for something else for World History.

4

For world history, maybe look at these search results on Google. There is everything from paid to unpaid options.

5

It looks good. But I’d have added a chapter on the French and Spanish colonies in America; this book gives the impression that America is made up solely of former British colonies.

6

Interactions with New France and New Spain are covered, just not in chapters solely devoted to them.

7

Florida wasn’t part of New Spain.

8

I’m sure that would come as a surprise to the Spanish crown.