THE NEW LEFT AND COLD WAR REVISIONISM: ANALYSIS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING HISTORY

The purpose of this dissertation is threefold. First, this paper analyzes and evaluates prominent New Left writings relative to the Cold War and the decision to drop the atomic bomb in 1945. Second, this historiographic writing acquaints the secondary teacher of history with the intellectual milieu and avowed purpose of several New Left historians for writing history. And third, this dissertation examines empirically the effect use of historians' interpretations can have on students' concept of history. This research suggests there is a proper sequence that will enhance student understanding of the discipline of history.; Several questions directed this empirical study. Does use of historians' interpretations alone distort a student's understanding of what history is and what historians do? Would exposing students to primary sources before having them read historians' interpretations augment their understanding of what history is?; This empirical study compares how two difference approaches to teaching historian's interpretations affect students' concept of history. The first approach involved students reading and discussing historians' interpretations relative to the Cold War and the decision to use the A-bomb. The second approach involved students examining primary sources and proposing their own theses regarding the A-bomb decision before reading the interpretations of historians. The hypothesis to be tested was that students exposed to the second approach would have a concept of history more compatible to that of historians than students exposed to the first approach.; Results of this study showed the following: (1) students exposed to the second approach perceived history more as interpretation than as argument; (2) students exposed to the second approach were less likely to see history merely as an accumulation of facts with the past never changing; and (3) students exposed to the second approach had a concept of history more compatible to that of historians.