Year 10/11 History
READING TASKS
The Devil in the Marshalsea, by Antonia Hodgson
Set in eighteenth century London, The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of the gaol's ruthless governor and his cronies.
Medieval Lives by Terry Jones
Terry Jones and Alan Ereira are your guides to this most misrepresented and misunderstood period, and they point you to things that will surprise and provoke. Did you know, for example, that medieval people didn't think the world was flat? That was a total fabrication by an American journalist in the 19th century. Did you know that they didn't burn witches in the Middle Ages? That was a refinement of the so-called Renaissance.
The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis
Here is the truth behind every spy thriller you've read: why America and the Soviet Union became locked in a deadly stalemate; how close we came to nuclear catastrophe; what was really going on in the minds of leaders from Stalin to Mao Zedong, Ronald Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev, how secret agents plotted and East German holidaymakers helped the Berlin Wall fall. It is a story of crisis talks and subterfuge, tyrants and power struggles - and of ordinary people changing the course of history.
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. This is the extraordinary story of Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland and who was transformed by the war into a man with a mission, a compassionate angel of mercy.
The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler by Lawrence Rees
Award-winning historian and documentary maker Laurence Rees draws on twenty years of research into the Third Reich, as well as contemporary accounts of people who knew Hitler, to examine the nature of Hitler's appeal and reveal the role his unique 'charisma' played in his success.
WRITING TASKS
Review
Write a review of one of the books you have read from the History reading list OR one of the films / series you have watched.
- Would you recommend it to others?
- If yes, why?
Newspaper Article
Write an article for the Newsletter either about a topic you have studied, or one you have researched independently.
Alternatively, are there topics you think SHOULD be taught, that currently aren't?
LISTENING TASKS
European Witchcraze
You're Dead to Me: The European Witchcraze on (BBC Sounds)
LGBTQ + History
You're Dead to Me: LGBTQ+ History (BBC Sounds)
WATCHING TASKS
Hitler: The Rise of Evil (TV mini series) 2003
A unique slant, profiling the life of Adolf Hitler as a child and his rise through the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers' Party prior to World War II.
Schindler's List (Film Age Cert: 15) 1993
It is based on the 1982 novel Schindler's Ark (recommended above). The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II.
RESEARCH TASKS
Biggleswade
Research the story of Biggleswade. How old is the town?
TRIPS AND VISITS
Town of Hastings
Battle of Hastings - Abbey and Battlefied, Hastings
Holocaust Exhibition
The Holocaust Exhibition, Imperial War Musuem, London
