Peers and Context

Joseph Locke and Ben Wright, editors of The American Yawp, saw a need for a new kind of textbook and set out to fulfill it. There has been a distinct lack of objectively-written American history textbooks in the American education system, with most books being written from some degree of a triumphalist perspective. The open source nature of The American Yawp lends itself to the development of objective content by compiling many different sources and perspectives. Their list of contributors contains some big names from the world of Digital Humanities, as well as dozens of historians from respected universities.

This project’s main motive, however, is to provide a high quality and reputable history textbook at no cost. Traditional textbooks often come with an exorbitant price tag, which only exacerbates the issue of higher education’s financial inaccessibility. The editors looked at their own experiences with college finances and knew that they could be a force for change. In the spirit of societal betterment, Locke and Wright have made their process repeatable so that others may follow their lead and develop content of their own.

See Evaluation