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1.04k reviews for:
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
James W. Loewen
4.04 AVERAGE
1.04k reviews for:
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
James W. Loewen
4.04 AVERAGE
I learned so much. Many realizations of what I missed…what I’ve been wrong about…and how important history is. This book earned a place on my “favorites” shelf.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I loved this book, especially the first third and the last third. If you've read my previous reviews on history related books, you'd know that I'm frequently shocked at what wasn't taught in school. If I were to go back to the beginning of my Goodreads "You Oughta Know" journey, I would have started with this book as it provided a solid foundation.
One particular topic/issue Loewen addressed was the disconnect between adults and current issues. Since many of us didn't learn later than the Vietnam War (I know I didn't), we struggle to comprehend the current issues we face today. How can we solve our current issues if we don't know how they began? Or our complicated and shameful hidden past? Or our relationships with foreign nations? I feel like I just recently began to understand the War on Iraq and that's taken at least three or four books to get a grasp on it.
If I'm being entirely honest, there's quite a few things I still don't know, even after getting a bachelors. And let it be known, history was my favorite class. Like Desert Storm? No idea. The Korean War? I couldn't give you the decade. What policies did Bush or Reagan or Clinton implement? I'm trying!
I've been thinking long and hard about that issue - where we (I) don't understand our (the US) extensive past. With the current election, it seems like everyone knows exactly what's going on. I'm just sitting here like
...how do you all know what's going on and what's happened? And so confidently?
Which reminds me of another issue Loewen talked about - our aim to be so certain about our nation's history. Textbooks and teachers desire to have a single, solid answer to everything when in actuality most of history is up to interpretation. There's usually several theories or several causes to historical events. Loewen believes that being honest to students with our uncertainity would lead to greater curiosity and classroom discussions, as well as having a better grasp on how to solve big issues when students become nation leaders. (But alas wouldn't that make multiple choice question tests more difficult?? /s)
The last topic that caught my attention was on corporations. Loewen explains that some corporations are so wealthy and globally spread out that they're essentially their own nations. I had never thought of that. Corporations can have more money than entire nations??? I guess it's obvious when I think about it, but never had I taken it into serious consideration. He also explained how the US will intervene in foreign elections and promote chaos if it benefits a corporation. Who knew 16 years of education would keep such fun facts out of the classroom? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My flaws with the book - I thought the middle was quite dry. Also, I am not sure I agree with his theory that the most educated are the most hawkish on foreign policy. But maybe it's because I think I'm educated when in reality I'm not because I wasted 16 years being taught a bunch of shit I have to unlearn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Overall, I very much recommend this book and wish I had a history book club to be part of.
Also s/o to anyone who actually reads my reviews lol
One particular topic/issue Loewen addressed was the disconnect between adults and current issues. Since many of us didn't learn later than the Vietnam War (I know I didn't), we struggle to comprehend the current issues we face today. How can we solve our current issues if we don't know how they began? Or our complicated and shameful hidden past? Or our relationships with foreign nations? I feel like I just recently began to understand the War on Iraq and that's taken at least three or four books to get a grasp on it.
If I'm being entirely honest, there's quite a few things I still don't know, even after getting a bachelors. And let it be known, history was my favorite class. Like Desert Storm? No idea. The Korean War? I couldn't give you the decade. What policies did Bush or Reagan or Clinton implement? I'm trying!
I've been thinking long and hard about that issue - where we (I) don't understand our (the US) extensive past. With the current election, it seems like everyone knows exactly what's going on. I'm just sitting here like
...how do you all know what's going on and what's happened? And so confidently?
Which reminds me of another issue Loewen talked about - our aim to be so certain about our nation's history. Textbooks and teachers desire to have a single, solid answer to everything when in actuality most of history is up to interpretation. There's usually several theories or several causes to historical events. Loewen believes that being honest to students with our uncertainity would lead to greater curiosity and classroom discussions, as well as having a better grasp on how to solve big issues when students become nation leaders. (But alas wouldn't that make multiple choice question tests more difficult?? /s)
The last topic that caught my attention was on corporations. Loewen explains that some corporations are so wealthy and globally spread out that they're essentially their own nations. I had never thought of that. Corporations can have more money than entire nations??? I guess it's obvious when I think about it, but never had I taken it into serious consideration. He also explained how the US will intervene in foreign elections and promote chaos if it benefits a corporation. Who knew 16 years of education would keep such fun facts out of the classroom? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My flaws with the book - I thought the middle was quite dry. Also, I am not sure I agree with his theory that the most educated are the most hawkish on foreign policy. But maybe it's because I think I'm educated when in reality I'm not because I wasted 16 years being taught a bunch of shit I have to unlearn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Overall, I very much recommend this book and wish I had a history book club to be part of.
Also s/o to anyone who actually reads my reviews lol
This is a great book. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I found it a little too long and a couple of things in the later chapters seemed repetitive. BUT I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. I was going to say everyone who was interested in history or American history or how history is taught, but really, we should all be interested in American history, because it is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. Loewen does a great job right off the bat talking about heroification, using contemporaries Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller as examples of how by telling only the tame palatable stories about people's lives we lose the chance to learn from them as real human beings. And in the same way, if we don't tell about our collective mistakes, we can't learn from them, AND it makes American history boring and everyone's least favorite subject.
His task is twofold: he attempts to both explain the shortcomings of how American history is taught and also to correct some of the errors this incorrect presentation has propagated. He limits his critique of teaching methods to high school American history and the textbooks used in public schools. Even while limiting his scope in this way, he manages to effectively convey the state of textbook publishing: that fewer companies are dominating the market, and most of the books are simply updates of old texts; and that these updates often add much volume and little substance, and also, by leaving in old material, makes the text frequently contradict itself.
His structure for the content of the book is impressive and makes his case convincing. He attempts to correct the most significant misconceptions propagated by American history classes in US classrooms, which are primarily related to three big topics: 1) the conquest of the land that would become the United States and the people who lived there, 2) slavery and black-white race relations, and 3) the portrayal of US involvement in the Vietnam War and other military interventions all over the world. Along the way he discusses many topics related to these three broad areas, and of course he does not cover everything, but he correctly addresses these as the three biggest historical topics on which we have been led astray.
His task is twofold: he attempts to both explain the shortcomings of how American history is taught and also to correct some of the errors this incorrect presentation has propagated. He limits his critique of teaching methods to high school American history and the textbooks used in public schools. Even while limiting his scope in this way, he manages to effectively convey the state of textbook publishing: that fewer companies are dominating the market, and most of the books are simply updates of old texts; and that these updates often add much volume and little substance, and also, by leaving in old material, makes the text frequently contradict itself.
His structure for the content of the book is impressive and makes his case convincing. He attempts to correct the most significant misconceptions propagated by American history classes in US classrooms, which are primarily related to three big topics: 1) the conquest of the land that would become the United States and the people who lived there, 2) slavery and black-white race relations, and 3) the portrayal of US involvement in the Vietnam War and other military interventions all over the world. Along the way he discusses many topics related to these three broad areas, and of course he does not cover everything, but he correctly addresses these as the three biggest historical topics on which we have been led astray.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
Loewen examines 12 popular social studies textbooks used in high school and compares them to "actual" history. I learned quite a few interesting things (see list below) but think that the book could have been pared down a bit without losing anything. Loewen also seems incredibly averse to using breaks in the chapters - each chapter was paragraph after paragraph of info. Not broken into smaller sub-headings or chunks and not even double spacing between paragrapghs or logical breaks and/or changes in thought. It was maddening and made it annoying to stop mid-chapter.
This book started off great - lots of explosive, surprising facts written in an engaging style. I read through several chapters the first day, which is unusual since I'm not typically a fan of straight-up history. However, as the book progressed, it lost lots of steam. He also seemed to go a bit overboard on playing the racism card. Yes, there were lots of events in history that were wrong - no doubt. But Loewen really seemed to take every logical (and some not so much) opportunity to practically hit the reader over the head with it.
I went back and forth between giving this 2 or 3 stars and ultimately decided on the latter due to the unapologetic stance he takes. He explores why history is taught in the (boring) manner that it is and offers several alternatives. His analysis was thorough and in-depth and while he may have gone a tad overboard on the actual facts of our nation's history - I felt there was a lot of repetition - he is obviously passionate about teaching the true history of the U.S., flaws and all.
And now for my favorite, random factiods:
1. Helen Keller was a socialist. Hardcore.
2. Woodrow Wilson was a white supremacist. For real.
3. The only reason Europeans were able to settle the Americas is because they killed the native inhabitants with diseases such as smallpox, viral hepatitis, chickenpox, measles, and influenza to name only a few. I'll give you that no one knew about germ theory then - but, didn't literally killing off entire tribes of people make "settling" the "New" World quite a bit easier?
4. Christopher Columbus had a thing for girls as young as 9. So did many of the early European "settlers". Eek and ick. Good ol' Columbus also carried out the world's first genocide (see: Haiti).
5. There were only 35 Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Out of approx. 102 passengers. Religious freedom my foot.
6. Warren G. Harding was inducted into the KKK at the White House.
This book started off great - lots of explosive, surprising facts written in an engaging style. I read through several chapters the first day, which is unusual since I'm not typically a fan of straight-up history. However, as the book progressed, it lost lots of steam. He also seemed to go a bit overboard on playing the racism card. Yes, there were lots of events in history that were wrong - no doubt. But Loewen really seemed to take every logical (and some not so much) opportunity to practically hit the reader over the head with it.
I went back and forth between giving this 2 or 3 stars and ultimately decided on the latter due to the unapologetic stance he takes. He explores why history is taught in the (boring) manner that it is and offers several alternatives. His analysis was thorough and in-depth and while he may have gone a tad overboard on the actual facts of our nation's history - I felt there was a lot of repetition - he is obviously passionate about teaching the true history of the U.S., flaws and all.
And now for my favorite, random factiods:
1. Helen Keller was a socialist. Hardcore.
2. Woodrow Wilson was a white supremacist. For real.
3. The only reason Europeans were able to settle the Americas is because they killed the native inhabitants with diseases such as smallpox, viral hepatitis, chickenpox, measles, and influenza to name only a few. I'll give you that no one knew about germ theory then - but, didn't literally killing off entire tribes of people make "settling" the "New" World quite a bit easier?
4. Christopher Columbus had a thing for girls as young as 9. So did many of the early European "settlers". Eek and ick. Good ol' Columbus also carried out the world's first genocide (see: Haiti).
5. There were only 35 Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Out of approx. 102 passengers. Religious freedom my foot.
6. Warren G. Harding was inducted into the KKK at the White House.