Take a photo of a barcode or cover
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
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
This should be required reading. Crazy informative and truly shows why the US is in the state it currently is. Interesting that predictions he made in 1995 are already coming to pass about the de-education of American citizens.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This explains why I hated history in school. Definitely will reread.
informative
medium-paced
A must-read for anyone who is aware of the fact that the American History taught to students is extremely sanitized at best and outright lies at worst.
Was really bad abt logging this and finished it like last week? It was super interesting and educating and some stuff was like holy shit that’s crazy but also at the same time being like I’m not surprised one bjt
Not sure I by this book story. The author compares the "real" story with 12 textbooks. It's all over the place and I think inconsistent logic. For example, he spends a fair about of time about the racism of Woodrow Wilson then complains that the textbooks don't mention it. I say "so what". It was not key to his presidency and in 1900's most people were pretty racist in post civil war years. I don't consider that a "Lie My Teacher Told Me". But he goes on and on about Christopher Columbus and the plague and how people "idolize" him. This one I do agree the there is LOTS of false information that needs to be corrected. My summary is that most of what he complains about is not the purpose of the discussion in textbooks anyway. It's more a matter of opinion in how much they could add in the context of a textbook but not really "Lie's".
Ignore the title. The reason I never picked this up before now was because I was one of those teachers who didn't want to see one. more. thing. talking about how bad teachers are. A better title for this book might have been Why You Hated History or Textbooks Suck! All in all, awesome read that totally changed every preconceived notion I ever had about history (Squanto is my new American hero) and gave me one more reason to explain why I hated history classes as a high school student and dislike using a textbook as a teacher now. Definite must read for the history nerd!
I hope my children are fortunate to either read a book like this or have a teacher who has and who takes it seriously. I don’t agree with the author on everything. I rather think he’d be rather disappointed with me if I did. But I think he’s encouraging all of us to start asking the right sorts of questions that make history important to know and engage with.
The chapter on 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan provoked a particularly visceral reaction for me because it is the living past for me. I was a freshman in college when 9/11 occurred and the events that followed are when I first learned that America is not the “international good guy” I was taught. I might have known something about this if I had been taught about Vietnam but I only ever touched it briefly in an English class. Not one history class in the late 90’s got past the end of WWII. This book would’ve been an invaluable resource for me then and it was still worth the time I spent on it now.
The chapter on 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan provoked a particularly visceral reaction for me because it is the living past for me. I was a freshman in college when 9/11 occurred and the events that followed are when I first learned that America is not the “international good guy” I was taught. I might have known something about this if I had been taught about Vietnam but I only ever touched it briefly in an English class. Not one history class in the late 90’s got past the end of WWII. This book would’ve been an invaluable resource for me then and it was still worth the time I spent on it now.
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced