Humanities Textbooks

Languages and Worldview

Contributor: Allard-Kropp

Publisher: University of Missouri - St. Louis

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.

(2 reviews)

Spanish I: Beginning Spanish Language and Culture

Contributor: Dean

Publisher: Humboldt State University Press

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This peer-reviewed textbook is designed for the true beginner with U.S. college students in mind. It contains themed chapters, which are divided into 8 sections. Each section has its own set of learning objectives, and is further separated into three types of assignments, Para estudiar en casa (with detailed explanations), Para practicar en casa (homework exercises), and Para practicar en clase (paired and group classwork activities). The explanations and primary input are written to be easily comprehensible. The individual exercises are geared towards acquisition of form and function, and the communicative classwork exercises promote interpersonal exchanges between students. The digital copy includes some embedded audio files, and we are developing a website to house many more resources.

(16 reviews)

Arguing Using Critical Thinking

Contributor: Marteney

Publisher: Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

License: CC BY-NC-SA

There is a quote that has been passed down many years and is most recently accounted to P.T. Barnum, “There is a sucker born every minute.” Are you that sucker? If you were, would you like to be “reborn?” The goal of this book is to help you through that “birthing” process. Critical thinking and standing up for your ideas and making decisions are important in both your personal and professional life. How good are we at making the decision to marry? According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is one divorce in America every 36 seconds. That is nearly 2,400 every day. And professionally, the Wall Street Journal predicts the average person will have 7 careers in their lifetime. Critical thinking skills are crucial.

(2 reviews)

The Western World: Daily Readings on Geography

Contributors: Quam and Campbell

Publisher: College of DuPage

License: CC BY-NC-SA

In essay format, this textbook considers examples of various sub-categories of Geography in combination with five regions of the Western World.

(1 review)

Advanced Community College ESL Composition: An Integrated Skills Approach

Contributors: Perez, Behseta, and Rae

Publisher: Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This book has been created to provide a framework for building your skills in writing and critical thinking. It provides access to published samples from professional authors along with essay drafts from ESL students who have polished their skills in their respective writing courses.

(7 reviews)

Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context

Contributor: Morgan-Ellis

Publisher: University of North Georgia Press

License: CC BY-SA

Welcome to Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context! Although this book is intended primarily for use in the college music appreciation classroom, it was designed with consideration for independent learners, advanced high school students, and experienced musicians. That is to say, it includes enough detail that expert guidance is not required and is written using broadly-accessible language. At the same time, it addresses advanced topics and positions music as a serious object of study.

(4 reviews)

Oregon’s History: People of the Northwest in the Land of Eden

Contributors: Michaels and Hakanson

Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources

License: CC BY

This “open textbook” is a social and cultural history of the people of Oregon representing powerful figures from the dominant Euro-American culture, the marginalized and oppressed, and social and political reformers who shaped the historical legacy of the state. It is a story of the diverse array of immigrants who helped build the state and strengthen it. The title is a recollection of the racial fantasies that European-American settlers created in their expansionist vision of the West and the state of Oregon. Initially the Oregon Territory was built on intolerance and racial exclusivity, but eventually Oregon embraces its diversity, but not without struggle and heartache. Our journey through the past starts with an essential question, “Who are the people of Oregon?”

(3 reviews)

Music on the Move

Contributor: Fosler-Lussier

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

License: CC BY-NC

Music is a mobile art. When people move to faraway places, whether by choice or by force, they bring their music along. Music creates a meaningful point of contact for individuals and for groups; it can encourage curiosity and foster understanding; and it can preserve a sense of identity and comfort in an unfamiliar or hostile environment. As music crosses cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries, it continually changes. While human mobility and mediation have always shaped music-making, our current era of digital connectedness introduces new creative opportunities and inspiration even as it extends concerns about issues such as copyright infringement and cultural appropriation.

(3 reviews)

Technical Theatre Practicum - Version 1

Contributor: Boltz

Publisher: College of the Canyons

License: CC BY

Welcome to the exciting world of technical theatre. Studying this topic can lead to many different careers in several different sectors of the economy. The general skills needed for any of the careers or sectors have many things in common. Workers need to be dead-line oriented, as most productions have firm timelines that cannot be altered. Critical thinking and analysis are much needed skills. Almost every project in the field is unique and technicians and designers alike must discover the best way of reaching a project’s goal. Creative problem solving is trait successful practitioners have in common. With every project being unique, there are no guaranteed solutions to the problems that are presented. Technicians draw on their vast experience of what worked in the past that can be adapted to be a solution to the current problems. Clear communication and collaboration round out the necessary skills. No technical theatre project is ever handled by one person on their own. Collaboration with many people is the norm, and successful collaboration requires clear written and verbal communication skills.

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(0 reviews)

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience

Contributors: Farrington, Powell, and Graham

Publisher: Encompass Digital Archive

License: CC BY

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

(4 reviews)