History by Conversation

This is a series for the teaching of history, of which its author, the accomplished man of letters Mr. Rashad al-Maghribi Darghouth, has presented us the four parts. There is no doubt that Mr. Darghouth's devotion to writing for the schools is a precious service to the school library, which lacks "a great many technical works." For he is the literary storyteller who has contributed, and still contributes, to the renaissance of the modern Arabic story.

Perhaps we can give no truer description of this series of books than the one its author himself intended and expressed in the introduction to the first part, namely: First — the simplification of facts after sifting them. Second — the omission of dates, except those that are decisive. Third — the cultivation of the patriotic and national spirit. Fourth — the cultivation of the love of independence, inquiry, and induction. Fifth — the study of contemporary history first, and then working backward.

May educators, then, take up this series, which has adopted a new method in the teaching of history, and give it its due of the attention it deserves.