Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

Much of what a reader gets out of a book depends on what he/she brings to the exercise.This reviewer came from a blue-collar background, attended public schools through college, eventually received a doctorate in a demanding field requiring scholarship and a grounding in history, and finally retired back to blue-collar pursuits.One needn't log years in formal education, however, to agree with James Loewen's introduction entitled "Something Has Gone Very Wrong" with the teaching of history in this country.I will reveal up front that I recommend this book to any open-minded citizen looking for alternative views of the problem and its solution. The stress is on "open-minded."But first, some comments on the book's weaker points.For starters, its title is clearly provocative. The word "lie" suggests a deliberate intention to deceive and, as the author himself acknowledges many times, well-meaning teachers dispensing information by rote may not even know the subject matter well enough to "lie" about it. Obviously, the title was chosen to entice people into buying and reading the book. Unfortunately, it may have the opposite effect on some.Second, the text can only be described as "dense." "Dense," as in long sentences and long paragraphs, which can also intimidate some readers.And finally, there is something off-putting about a steady litany of what is wrong with the world as opposed to what can be done about it. However, as the reader will find, Mr. Loewen finds much ammunition for each chapter -- a bit of it amusing, much of it shocking and all of it relevant.Take, for example, the following passage describing something that is surely happening thousands of times a day around the country:"As we college professors get older, we grow ever more astonished at what our undergraduates don't know about the recent past. I first became aware of this phenomenon as the 1970s inexorably became the 1980s. Lecturing on the Vietnam War, I increasingly got blank looks. ... On the first day of class in 1989, I gave my students a quiz including the open-ended question, `Who fought in the war in Vietnam?' Almost a fourth of my students said the combatants were North and South Korea!""Lies My Teacher Told Me" is primarily an expose of the teaching -- or lack thereof -- of high school history and of the caliber of students sent out into the world or up into college-level history classes.I find Mr. Loewen successfully demonstrates that the bulk of history is taught from bland textbooks written to the safest common denominator. After weeding out most references to anything controversial, and putting in enough chronological items to satisfy a wide constituency, the textbook industry and its academic allies end up with history "without content," often wildly inaccurate and largely without relevance to students' personal lives.We are all familiar with the poor showing of American high school students vis-à-vis foreign students in, say, mathematics. But at least that failing is in the news and we try to address it. And one has an international yardstick -- mathematics itself -- by which to judge.There is no comparable yardstick for measuring the teaching of American history. Hence no public spotlight. And too little effort to reform it. Mr. Loewen says that study after study reveals that history and its sister subject in high school, social studies, are considered by students to be the most boring of all their classes.What does all this matter?Mr. Loewen makes a convincing case that history -- properly taught -- can excite and stimulate students to engage in critical thinking on subjects they will encounter again and again in their lives. I.e., it can give citizens meaningful ties to the nation's past and equip them with a context for understanding -- and solving -- future problems.Given the appalling high school drop-out rate, and the number of graduates who will not go on to college, this type of intellectual stimulation may be the last train out for a huge number of young people as they assume their permanent adult roles. What are the consequences for society when critical thinking is in short supply? Individuals are less equipped to resist a host of unsavory options ranging from political demagogues to religious cults. And apart from the stimulation and knowledge, there is something personally satisfying about knowing where we -- individually and collectively -- have come from and where we might be headed.Does Mr. Loewen have a point of view? An ax to grind? Of course. That is the whole purpose of writing his book.Given this statement of the obvious, should you read the book? I say "absolutely" -- if you are sincere in finding a solution to a most serious problem. After all, the discerning reader can selectively accept or discard certain of Mr. Loewen's arguments. What will not be easily discarded will be his scholarship on topics that are thematically chosen and extensively documented.If you reach the end of his book still searching for answers, then seek out an additional point of view and read that. The quite horrendous state of teaching history to American high school students demands a serious overhaul. You will be doing a service to yourself and to the country if you help point all of us toward a solution. Mr. Lowen's book would be an excellent starting point.

The title is a bit of a misnomer. The real title should be `Omissions in Twelve History Textbooks'. At this point most Americans know that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slaves but few probably realize than Patrick "Give me liberty or give me death" Henry also owned slave. It's no secret that Columbus was unkind to indigenous people but the depth of his brutality is still shocking. Mr. Loewen kicks over the shiny stone of carefully crafted American mythology to reveal the mud and worms beneath. Beyond just glossing over character flaws many history books create such blandness as when several popular textbooks describe the debate between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas focusing on their attire and posture ignoring the content of their speeches.History books aren't simply glossing over details. They are omitting THE defining characteristic of American history that being the pursuit of hegemony, first continental then global. Without understanding the primary American foreign policy how can Americans understand why the U.S. would engage in the destabilization of democratically elected governments and assassinations of leaders? In Iran, for instance the United States helped to overthrow PM Massadegh and install the despised and oppressive shah. This kind of stuff happens all the time particularly in Central and South America and the Middle East meanwhile uninformed Americans cry out `why do they hate us?'. The history books also omit causation as if things just happen as in `...and war broke out' as if war were a rash that occasionally flares up without reason. History is about causation and context and students are taught neither,The central problem, as Mr. Loewen points out, comes from the very structure of our education system. History is the most politically charged of all subjects in primary education. One person's hero is another person's heel. Northern states may prefer the term "Civil War" while Southerners prefer "War between the states" or even "War for southern independence". In order to satisfy all potential markets history books are written bland like elevator music neither castigating true villainy nor celebrating actual heroes. The good news is that history books have improved to some extent although it's more a reflection of changing attitudes in society and acceptance of some of the more unpalatable details of our past.What impressed me the most about this book was how complete it is. While I was reading the book I thought about related topics and before the book was over Mr. Loewen ended up touching on each one. For instance he mentions the absurd afro-centrism which was intended to empower young blacks but instead credited blacks with creating everything good while whites were left creating only slavery and theft. The book also mentions the various right wing groups that unashamedly work towards creating a sanitized history. He even mentions Lynne Cheney by name. Meanwhile in an age where information is increasingly accessible it's becoming quite naïve to believe that students can be kept in bubble. Instead students are becoming cynical and disinterested which may explain why teaching history is often being relegated to gym teachers.

I liked that matter of fact manner in which it is written.

A thoroughly compelling read, I think Loewen criticism of history textbooks can be summed up in three points:- That textbooks authors and editors are so involved in deep trench warfares with each other that they no longer pay attention to the quality content of their books, but are more concerned with the quantity of information in their books. This means that there is very little motivation for textbooks to be anything other than just a loose collection of dates and facts tied together by an overarching narrative.- That textbooks are trending towards a more authoritarian attitude towards history (seeing history as a "done deal" and therefore simply facts to be taught) whilst the opposite is true (there is still a lot of events which are controversial in their causes) and history classes should encourage students to intellectually debate and explore possible reasons/alternative. Loewen also argues that history is more about learning cause and effect principles and how certain historical events still impact social attitudes around the world today.- That textbooks will often deify national heroes and selectively omit "black marks" in historical events to promote a more benign character of America in the interests of patriotism, causing generations of "collective amnesia" where the real reason behind certain events are forgotten entirely. Sometimes history textbook authors will go as far as making up narrative in order to bridge events in history because the more plausible connection will actively damage the image of America.Loewen issues a warning that the combination of these three factors above is highly damaging to children's development as they not only lose an interest in examining history (because it was presented to them as boring), but aso leaving them unable to reconcile current world problems with their historical origins (as they have not been taught these). After finishing this book I am more inclined to think skeptically and critically when articles or textbooks present history as fact without citing sources or invoking discussions, and it makes me wonder how much of what we learnt in school was true and how much was nonsense.

I received the book in the required time and am happy with it thank you but I haven't read it yet to see the context

good insight as to how History is thought in USA.

an eye opener and no mistake