This volume celebrates stories of great heroes from the pages of history from Moses and David through Clara Barton and Henry Longfellow. It is divided into nine sections: Mighty Men of Long Ago, Heroes of the Middle Ages, Four Leaders in the Old World, Discoverers and Explorers, Colonists and Pioneers, Patriots of the Revolution, Winners of the West, Famous Inventors, and The Greatest Americans, It is written from a distinct Western and American point of view, but each chapter is a short summary of these people deemed “heroes.” John Burnham was chair of the History and Social Sciences Department at Western State Normal School and Western State Teachers College. He was a nationally known history and social studies educator, and author or co-author of six elementary and secondary U.S. history textbooks that were widely used throughout the United States during the 1920s and 1930.
By : Smith Burnham (1866 - 1947)
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An interest in history and a love of historical reading will be most readily acquired by those children who approach this rich field of literature through the medium of stories of the great figures of the past. Such stories, if properly selected and told, give children those vivid concrete pictures of men and of events which are vitally essential to any real understanding of bygone days. At the same time such history stories may be so selected as to hold up right ideals of conduct and of character. Moreover, by their appeal to the emotions, which lie very near to the springs of conduct, they move to action. Tales of gentleness, of honor, of justice, of courage, of fortitude in suffering, of intrepidity in danger, of dauntless resolution, of iron will, inspire children to an emulation of those virtues. These “Hero Tales from History” have been written in the faith set forth in this paragraph. Through these stories the author aims to inculcate the fundamental virtues just named and at the same time to acquaint children with the names and achievements of some of those great men and women whose lives and characters are a part of our racial and national inheritance.
In the selection of the tales in this book the author has drawn upon all ages. Here are mighty men of the ancient world and makers of modern America. Some of the characters chosen as the heroes of these stories are great figures in world history, but the greater part of them were selected because they are among the foremost heroes of our own country and of our own culture. Of course in a book of this size many valuable stories had to be omitted. But it is believed that all the tales included are typical and representative.
These “Hero Tales” are not biographies of the men about whom they are told, neither has any attempt been made to join them into a connected historical narrative. They are just stories from the past told with constant thought of the stage of mental development of the children for whom they are intended. Each story has a hero, each is full of action, and the author has tried to tell each one in clear and simple language. The author has also tried to make each story teach its intended lesson without any moralizing on his part.
The history of the past can never become a vital thing to us until the men of the past are live, flesh and blood men. It is the author’s hope that these “Hero Tales from History” will help to make threescore great figures from our past something more than names to the children who may enjoy this book.
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