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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 agreed with a whole lot of what this book said about high school history classes. After years of being bored out of my mind by the history classes I went through in high school and middle school, I had pretty much no interest in history whatsoever. I picked this book up on a whim, though, and was really interested in it. I think maybe I'll be reading some more history in the future.
I read this before becoming a history teacher. I need the updated version as my edition doesn't happen to include the text I use in my classroom.
I really was not a fan of this book, and I wanted so badly to like it. As someone who loves history, and studied it (and have a major in it), I was excited about its potential. And while I was initially very interested - I hadn’t known those details about Keller or Wilson - as the book went on, I lost interest with it. The points covered in the book are incredibly important - history should be taught as it was and not through rose-colored glasses and should include a variety of perspectives and viewpoints. Perhaps 30 years after its publication, I’ve already learned a lot about what the author was trying to impart about American history through all the classes I’ve taken...but I felt like what I was reading could have been summed up more tightly and it would have made the author’s points better. Especially the last few chapters about why history has been taught incorrectly and what can be done about it. Maybe my biggest issues were the style and tone of writing. A book with important messages, but, for me, not the best read.
Great overview of how American history as taught in public school is a vague Eurocentric exercise in memorization and actually doesn't really include much truth or substance. Entertaining and enraging.
This is another nonfiction that I listened to in the car. It was well read and very interesting to listen to. I would really like to re-read the text version so that I absorb more of what was taught. I have always found American's insistence that our country is somehow more morally "right" and more worthy than other countries (and their) people to be both untrue and disturbing. This book disabuses us of some of our tradional myths, and puts many of our current practices, beliefs and attitudes into question. Highly recommended.
Slobberknocker of a text overview describing the exact lies I remember being taught in school and the things I need to make sure I help uncover in my son's education.
I never liked history in school...it's only recently that I've become interested in it, and I started refreshing the old school lessons in the dusty corners of my brain by reading this book. It's fresh, and interesting, and if they had used this as a textbook in high school maybe I wouldn't have wasted so many years as a history ignoramus.
This is a really interesting book that makes a lot of good points… but also wildly, radically overestimates how much control teachers have over the content they teach. Furthermore, as textbooks have rapidly fallen out of fashion, the framework of the book’s discussion has shifted. Much of the content presented in the book were things I was already familiar with, but perhaps that’s indicative of the improvements already made. Still, for someone unfamiliar with American history beyond their public school education would benefit from this greatly! I would be very interested to hear what history teachers think of this.
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
While Loewen utilizes outdated language on occasion while making his points, his sentiments are exceptionally valuable nevertheless. Loewen analyzes how the United States' public school system fails its students by lying to them about history, particularly the history of marginalized groups such as Indigenous and Black people. Loewen not only explains this history in a manner that is interesting and captivating, but also argues for the improvement of historical education across the U.S. He critiques not only teachers, but more significantly textbooks and their publishers. I wish he lived to see the current political state surrounding education, and I would have loved to hear his commentary on the censorship happening in schools today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
I am, admittedly, a big ole nerd. I love learning and find much of history really interesting. Lies My Teacher Told Me is like the snarky teacher we all wished we had in high school, unwilling to shy away from the hard facts just because they're uncomfortable. It was a very interesting read, and I felt like I learned a lot of things that were glossed over or altogether omitted in my public school education.
I expected this to read a little more like a standard textbook, which I realize now is silly since the whole thing is a condemnation on exactly that. But while I found the subject matter and writing style interesting, I felt a little jerked around by things not being in chronological order or even really by related subjects.
Also, I fully realize that Loewen's goal was to dissect how textbooks being used in US classrooms are failing students, but I felt like he spent a lot of time and words continuously jabbing at their failures. Presumably the reader of this book has already bought into the idea that yes, the textbooks currently being used are problematic. Address that once at the beginning, showing your receipts, and then continue on to tell us how things actually went down. We don't need a blow by blow every 4 pages of why you hate all of the textbooks and all of their authors. I was annoyed by these parts and just skipped right over them. The actual history lessons throughout were compelling enough to keep me reading the book besides these "See! I told you so!!" excerpts.
I expected this to read a little more like a standard textbook, which I realize now is silly since the whole thing is a condemnation on exactly that. But while I found the subject matter and writing style interesting, I felt a little jerked around by things not being in chronological order or even really by related subjects.
Also, I fully realize that Loewen's goal was to dissect how textbooks being used in US classrooms are failing students, but I felt like he spent a lot of time and words continuously jabbing at their failures. Presumably the reader of this book has already bought into the idea that yes, the textbooks currently being used are problematic. Address that once at the beginning, showing your receipts, and then continue on to tell us how things actually went down. We don't need a blow by blow every 4 pages of why you hate all of the textbooks and all of their authors. I was annoyed by these parts and just skipped right over them. The actual history lessons throughout were compelling enough to keep me reading the book besides these "See! I told you so!!" excerpts.