Dyed-In-The-Wool History
American History Overview
This site provides an overview of American History along with more in depth analysis of other selected topics that will be added as the site progresses. The American History Overview is written at a high school and early college level and should be useful for students staring with US History I which is taught in eighth grade in many states.
The content of Dyed-in-the-Wool History is intended to be free from modern political narratives and any form of virtue signaling. We are simply attempting to provide relevant information that will allow a reader to rapidly investigate a topic and reach their own conclusions. While the content isn't written at a high academic level (for the most part) it is all fully sourced allowing the reader to further investigate any topic we present here. In most respects, the American History overview reflects the teaching of history prior to the influences of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism in the 1960's and 70's.
The following notes explain the structure and content of the site:
Political Philosophy: While the historical development of political philosophies is certainly addressed it is not the framework used here to arrange history or to construct a historical narrative.
Demographics and Economics: These topics are emphasized to a greater extent than is generally common to history text books. Fairly extensive use is made of census information and quantitative data is emphasized as opposed to antidotal evidence.
Culture / Religion: Relative to other sources culture and religion are emphasized here. Unlike historical accounts of prominent people and events, culture and religion is everybody's history and "being inclusive" doesn't require awkwardly inserting people of differing demographics. For someone looking to understand church history this is a useful source that integrates church history into a geo-political context.
World / International History: America was formed in the context of international history and has also played a highly influential role in forming international history especially after 1860. Therefore America's role in the context of world history is also emphasized.
Structure and Content: The American History overview is organized by era and then by topic. An average post is typically about 5 printed pages with five to ten sources. Based on the complexity of the subject, some are longer and have more source information but the general intent was to keep the topics fairly tightly defined and brief. Because each post is intended to be able to stand alone, some material may be repeated.
Sources: Most of the content presented here can be readily validated from multiple sources although some will seem surprising as many people and events are effectively masked because they do not support institutionally approved historical narratives. There are sources cited that are outside of "approved institutional sources" because they are foreign, or hold undesirable political positions, or because they make the arguments go against "allowable opinion". If anything is relevant and and can be supported factually, we hold that it is a potentially acceptable source. Politically authors used in compiling this site range from libertarian to socialist - the content is what matters and not who is saying it.
Updates: Subjects may be added and existing content updated based on what we discover. Like others seeking the truth, we are always reading, studying, and learning. In general the most recent periods are the most difficult to fully and impartially investigate.