The traditional study of world history tells us that history is made primarily by people wearing funny hats. In today’s episode of Crash Course, I argue that history is actually made by people like us.
Thanks for watching and sharing Crash Course. I hate encouraging people to share stuff they like—I mean, obviously if you like something you will share it—but…yeah. If you like Crash Course, and you want it to continue to be a thing, sharing is the most efficient way to make that happen.
At last, an episode of crash course devoted to… wait for it… THE MONGOLS.
A new episode of Crash Course in which I discuss the (arguable) Fall of Rome.
Once again proving that tumblr is not just a place for cat pictures and homoerotic Sherlock watercolors. IT’S ALSO FOR LEARNING.
I am boarding a plane to Amsterdam, but I was all Alec Baldwiny about DON’T CLOSE THE AIRCRAFT DOOR UNTIL I CAN TUMBL ABOUT THE NEW CRASH COURSE PLZ KTHX.
Learn about the Silk Road, ancient trade, and the demographics of Crash Course viewers (mostly muggle quidditch players and grammar nazis).
The new episode of Crash Course, in which I compare Kim Kardashian to The Situation.
I want Crash Course to be a video series where we all learn interesting and important stuff about world history and how historical events and trends created the world in which we live, but I also want it to be—as I think the study of history ought to be—an opportunity to think about what matters to us, and how we might best organize our lives and our communities.
I hope you’re liking this new project, and I hope that you’ll continue to share it with your own communities, because honestly I’ve never enjoyed making something as much as I’m enjoying working with the talented people who make CC possible, and I really want to keep making them for years and years.
Kim Kardashian’s perfume really does smell like cat pee, by the way.
The new episode of Crash Course: World History teaches you 2,000 years of Chinese history and explains that we used to distribute information via thinly sliced trees that would be delivered to your house.
I hope you like it.
What’s the point of being alive?
“Perhaps lives are supposed to be lived in pursuit of some great ideal worth sacrificing endlessly for…”
I read about history, and make these videos, in part because I am genuinely uncertain about how humans are best off organizing their lives: What we should prioritize, how important stability is relative to freedom, whether the rights of the individual trump the interest of the collective, etc.
And one of the most interesting and fun things to come out of crash course so far is to see people’s perspectives on these questions, some as uncertain as I am and others with their values set, and the thoughtfulness with which they use the stories of those who came before us to think about what should matter to us.
All of which is to say, more or less, thanks. Thanks for watching Crash Course. Thanks for taking it seriously. And thanks for helping to clarify my own questions about how history should guide our values for the time that we are here.
The new episode of Crash Course: World History introduces you to the history of Ancient Egypt in under 12 minutes. I hope you guys like Crash Course; Hank and I have dreamt of being able to make useful, free educational videos on YouTube for many years, and it’s so fun to finally have the opportunity.
If you like the show, please share it with your friends and teachers. And also your enemies: They need to learn, too.
The first episode of Crash Course: World History is about the Agricultural Revolution (and double cheeseburgers). I hope you like it and share it with your friends and/or teachers and/or students. I AM VERY NERVOUS AND EXCITED.
