Books by John D Clare 

      

Textbooks currently in print

I was asked to write / act as editor for the BBC Bitesize GCSE History revision notes.

  

I was also excited to be able to experiment with a new kind information medium for when the BBC asked me to write a number of GCSE History podcasts.
     
 

I was delighted to be asked to write the Foundation (easy-reading) editions to accompany this popular and lively GCSE series - I wrote the text to be easily accessible to less-able readers, whilst still providing enough information to obtain a decent pass at GCSE.   

All the books have questions which mirror directly the style of questions pupil will meet in the exam.

   

 

   

   

 

Investigating History is a Key Stage 3 series, but it is different in that, instead of studying events chronologically, it provides chapters on different themes - politics, religion, economy, standards of living.   The series is modelled on the KS3 Strategy Foundation Strand, offering end-of-unit assessments relating directly to the National Curriculum levels of attainment, and including literacy, citizenship and ICT tasks. Each book is supported by a Teacher Resource CD-ROM. 

   

I wrote the Foundation (easy reading) editions, except for Britain 1750-1900, where I wrote the mainstream edition as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Foundation series for Hodder History uses a very simple lexicon of only 600 words, and identifies all the ‘New Words’ it uses as it adds new words.

         There are also titles on the Roman Empire, French Revolution, and the Black and Native Peoples of America.

     

   

Older Books

 

                     

  

The Options in History series for Thomas Nelson tried to make every lesson different from the last.   It was the first History series to include detailed Teaching Guidance with the textbooks.

  

 

The I Was There series for Random House was revolutionary because, instead of drawn illustrations, it used photographs of actors on location.   The series included books on The Pyramids, Ancient Greece, The Roman Empire, The Vikings, Knights in Armour, medieval Towns, The Italian Renaissance, Christopher Columbus, the Industrial Revolution and The First World War.

        It sold more than 1 million copies  in 17 different languages in 19 different countries, and is now out of print.

  

        I Was There: Vikings received the American Children's Book Council award for Notable 1992 Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.
  

 

 

      

The snapping-turtle guides for ticktock included a series called Early Civilizations.

         The books had lots of pictures, and information was mainly conveyed through the captions.

         I wrote two books for the series – Aztec Life and North American Indian Life – plus one other book (on UFOs), under a pseudonym.    Aztec Life is criticised nowadays by some modern scholars on the grounds that it overstates Aztec atrocities (but I still think the Aztecs were a pretty nasty people).

 

Growing Up in  the People’s Century, 

was written for BBC Worldwide Publishing to accompany the TV series The People’s Century.  

 

 

 

The Bible Alive – written with Henry Wansbrough (a Catholic monk who was one of the editors of the Jerusalem Bible) – did photographic illustrations for the stories of the Bible.  

       

 

    

The first books I wrote were for the Macmillan History in Depth series on Agricultural Change since 1750 (1988) and Northern Ireland (1989).   

In 1994 I wrote a book for Nelson on Public Health and Medicine.