Don't Know Much About History?

James Loewen's Lies my Teacher Told Me explains why you don't know as much about American history as you might think, and does it in a lively and compelling way. If you want to know the facts behind some of the more important events in American history-ones you probably think you know all about already-this is the book for you. If you'd like to know what's so wrong with the way history is taught in this country these days, this is the book for you. This book will get you to wondering how much American history you really do know.

Mercifully, there are books that do tell the great American story the way that Prof. Loewen would have it told: Daniel J. Boorstin's The Americans: The Democratic Experience, which lays out the whys and wherefores of everything from cattle branding to America's role in developing atomic energy; Kenneth's C. Davis's Don't Know Much About History, which covers everything from who really discovered America to Bill Clinton's effort to get gays accepted in the military; and Carl Palm's The Great California Story: Real-Life Roots of an American Legend, which explains just what it is that makes California so different from everywhere else.

These are not the kind of books that typically make their way into American history classrooms, but they are the kind that could actually hold a class's attention and tell them things about America that they would actually be interested in knowing. And this is as true for readers outside the classroom, as it is for ones in it. In other words, these books are examples of the kind of history that tells you what really happened in American history, the kind that the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me would be interested in reading himself, and therefore the kind that would surely be of interest to you, too.

Keeping children in a bubble

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.

A Treat to Read

A nice critique on american educational history and the lies distortions and falsifications that are inherent in the pages of our childrens history books. The author makes no bones about it, history taught as it currently is, is boring, over-simplified, mostly always with a happy go lucky ending of events. The real object was to, of course make those on top appear better, more knowlegeable than the evidence shows...Loewan does a good job with correcting some of the distortions and at the same time he offers suggestions on how to improve the teaching of the subject, by replacing misrepresented history with historical information more closely aligned with the truth is a first step. No wonder revisionist history is so popular, it is so much fun discovering that everyone contributed to the planet!!!