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
Considering the title, I thought this would be a fun look at history.
The author's complaint is history textbooks are neither interesting, nor memorable -- ironic because neither was this. And it wasn't all about lies; it was more about biases and slants.
I like history, but this was a slog. Mary Roach -- fun. Or Kenneth C. Davis -- fun.
This was a book you might want to read if you had to purchase a bunch of textbooks.
Skip it.
The author's complaint is history textbooks are neither interesting, nor memorable -- ironic because neither was this. And it wasn't all about lies; it was more about biases and slants.
I like history, but this was a slog. Mary Roach -- fun. Or Kenneth C. Davis -- fun.
This was a book you might want to read if you had to purchase a bunch of textbooks.
Skip it.
One of my favorite non-fiction books. I loved it from page 1 to the very end.
Be prepared to unlearn all the nonsense that was crammed into your head in high school. You will never think of Christopher Columbus , George Washington or Thomas Jefferson in the same way again -- and that's a good thing. The deficiencies of American education regarding our history are thoroughly examined (many of them, anyway). Chapter 11, "Progress is our Most Important Product" is devastating. Be prepared.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong
Author: James W Loewen
Publisher: The New Press
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 282
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Genre:
Nonfiction
History
Study
Education
Learning
Critical Thinking
Why this book:
Escaping the narrative. Chasing the truth.
_________________
Favorite Quote:
“The Phoenicians’ early feats of sailing do not support the story that white Europeans taught the rest of the world how to do things.”
“No European who has tasted Savage Life can afterwards bear to live in our societies.” The emphasis of the capital letters gives it the quotation marks it would bear today, the sarcasm, the snark. Benjamin Franklin, another built up by the hero worship, but kept to the side is a quote machine.
“No matter how well Native Americans acculturated, they could not succeed in white society. Whites would not let them, Indians who gained property or wealth, built European-style houses, or ran businesses became targets of white thugs who wanted to take over their property. Most courts simply refused to hear testimony from Native Americans against whites. Acculturation could not work because American Indians were not given equal legal rights.” Familiar story, isn't it?
“When information which properly belongs to the people is systemically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who m manage them, and—eventually—incapable of determining their own destinies.” — Richard Nixon …I never expected to quote Nixon outside of a biographical or period-specific historical foreign policy context.
Favorite Concept:
American history as a hero building exercise instead of as a vehicle to teach about people, real people, with the failings of real people, who did extra normal things that should be remembered.
History is only real history when it's all there warts and all.
History as a weapon. Ignorance as a tool. Control as a goal.
The Swahili concept of sasha and zamani as applied to a historical context instead of those deceased. Sasha being living memory and the shared context of those still living who lived through it. Zamani being the more distant past, beyond living memory. And history textbooks ignoring sasha and editing the past of teh zamani in service to hero worship and the heroic Anglo narrative.
Hmm Moments:
Only 35 of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower were Pilgrims. And the ship's destination was supposed to be Jamestown. Did they hijack and redirect the ship so they wouldn't fall under the religious control of the Anglican Church in Virginia?
Calling the Ball:
Should’ve been called Lies My Textbook Told Me, laying this at the feet of teachers is unfortunate. Teachers' power to influence minds is being challenged through politics and control of dilettantes.
The history of the 50-year nadir should be taught in its full horrifying truth.
WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
Wait! Wait! Wait! President Warren G Harding, while president, became a member of the KKK in a ceremony at the White House???
The Sigh:
Realistically, I expected there to be a whitewashing/racewashing aspect to the stories left out of history, but damn.
A Path I Can’t Follow:
The recent return to middle and high school history texts of states rights as THE issue in the Civil War is disgraceful. Yeah, a state’s right to be a white supremacist POS full of slavery.
Turd in the Punchbowl:
The Mayflower Compact, neither first, nor American, nor directly influencing the Declaration or the Constitution, all that is a myth of a relationship created by Big Textbook and the Heroic Anglo Narrative.
Confirmation Bias:
The hero building in history texts owes a lot to the Bible. Too many of those writing early textbooks were trying to please the church fathers rather than do and promote real scholarship. Because in too many narrow minded circles, real scholarship is seen as challenging the Bible. Faith that can’t stand up to fact is weak. But history should never be an article of faith.
The dark side of the Columbus myth and the horrible fallout of the Columbian exchange and all that slowed from it, good and bad. Hero building aside, there was a lot of suffering and inhumanity that are directly attributable to him.
Wisdom:
Why do politicians propagandize textbooks and teaching, because in a generation or two they're propaganda becomes the truth. Just look at the way that many young Southerners view reconstruction. Their understanding of it is viewed strictly through the lens of the short-sighted, propagandized textbooks we were taught from in middle school and high school.
Juxtaposition:
Reading the chapter on the Civil War fills me with foreboding. Looking at the way that right wing politicians talk about a woman’s right to choose, and anyone who isn’t part of THEM and the way they are cloying the argument as a state’s right to decide, it feels like a song and dance that has been done before. And with Texas, Florida, and Tennessee racing to outdo one another in their pursuit of alienating everyone except white evangelicals on their road to a new secession. That’s the feeling. And watching Tennessee, I bet those crazy bastards could get the votes through their legislature today.
Frederick Douglas pointed out that patriots hold their country accountable for its sins and do not excuse them, while a nationalist denies that the country ever committed sins and cannot think rationally about them.
The Unexpected:
The premise of the book is the stuff that gets left out and the hero building/hero worship presented as history. Early on, the author got me. I like to characterize myself as a student of history. But I had no idea about the pair of shipwrecked gentlemen shipwrecked in Holland in 60 BC, believed today to have been Native American.
The Poker Game/DND Table:
Benjamin Franklin for either, or both, would be an awesome evening.
_________________
Things I’ve Learned:
In making one of my above comments, this book forced me to look up the term cognoscenti.
Author: James W Loewen
Publisher: The New Press
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 282
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Genre:
Nonfiction
History
Study
Education
Learning
Critical Thinking
Why this book:
Escaping the narrative. Chasing the truth.
_________________
Favorite Quote:
“The Phoenicians’ early feats of sailing do not support the story that white Europeans taught the rest of the world how to do things.”
“No European who has tasted Savage Life can afterwards bear to live in our societies.” The emphasis of the capital letters gives it the quotation marks it would bear today, the sarcasm, the snark. Benjamin Franklin, another built up by the hero worship, but kept to the side is a quote machine.
“No matter how well Native Americans acculturated, they could not succeed in white society. Whites would not let them, Indians who gained property or wealth, built European-style houses, or ran businesses became targets of white thugs who wanted to take over their property. Most courts simply refused to hear testimony from Native Americans against whites. Acculturation could not work because American Indians were not given equal legal rights.” Familiar story, isn't it?
“When information which properly belongs to the people is systemically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who m manage them, and—eventually—incapable of determining their own destinies.” — Richard Nixon …I never expected to quote Nixon outside of a biographical or period-specific historical foreign policy context.
Favorite Concept:
American history as a hero building exercise instead of as a vehicle to teach about people, real people, with the failings of real people, who did extra normal things that should be remembered.
History is only real history when it's all there warts and all.
History as a weapon. Ignorance as a tool. Control as a goal.
The Swahili concept of sasha and zamani as applied to a historical context instead of those deceased. Sasha being living memory and the shared context of those still living who lived through it. Zamani being the more distant past, beyond living memory. And history textbooks ignoring sasha and editing the past of teh zamani in service to hero worship and the heroic Anglo narrative.
Hmm Moments:
Only 35 of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower were Pilgrims. And the ship's destination was supposed to be Jamestown. Did they hijack and redirect the ship so they wouldn't fall under the religious control of the Anglican Church in Virginia?
Calling the Ball:
Should’ve been called Lies My Textbook Told Me, laying this at the feet of teachers is unfortunate. Teachers' power to influence minds is being challenged through politics and control of dilettantes.
The history of the 50-year nadir should be taught in its full horrifying truth.
WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
Wait! Wait! Wait! President Warren G Harding, while president, became a member of the KKK in a ceremony at the White House???
The Sigh:
Realistically, I expected there to be a whitewashing/racewashing aspect to the stories left out of history, but damn.
A Path I Can’t Follow:
The recent return to middle and high school history texts of states rights as THE issue in the Civil War is disgraceful. Yeah, a state’s right to be a white supremacist POS full of slavery.
Turd in the Punchbowl:
The Mayflower Compact, neither first, nor American, nor directly influencing the Declaration or the Constitution, all that is a myth of a relationship created by Big Textbook and the Heroic Anglo Narrative.
Confirmation Bias:
The hero building in history texts owes a lot to the Bible. Too many of those writing early textbooks were trying to please the church fathers rather than do and promote real scholarship. Because in too many narrow minded circles, real scholarship is seen as challenging the Bible. Faith that can’t stand up to fact is weak. But history should never be an article of faith.
The dark side of the Columbus myth and the horrible fallout of the Columbian exchange and all that slowed from it, good and bad. Hero building aside, there was a lot of suffering and inhumanity that are directly attributable to him.
Wisdom:
Why do politicians propagandize textbooks and teaching, because in a generation or two they're propaganda becomes the truth. Just look at the way that many young Southerners view reconstruction. Their understanding of it is viewed strictly through the lens of the short-sighted, propagandized textbooks we were taught from in middle school and high school.
Juxtaposition:
Reading the chapter on the Civil War fills me with foreboding. Looking at the way that right wing politicians talk about a woman’s right to choose, and anyone who isn’t part of THEM and the way they are cloying the argument as a state’s right to decide, it feels like a song and dance that has been done before. And with Texas, Florida, and Tennessee racing to outdo one another in their pursuit of alienating everyone except white evangelicals on their road to a new secession. That’s the feeling. And watching Tennessee, I bet those crazy bastards could get the votes through their legislature today.
Frederick Douglas pointed out that patriots hold their country accountable for its sins and do not excuse them, while a nationalist denies that the country ever committed sins and cannot think rationally about them.
The Unexpected:
The premise of the book is the stuff that gets left out and the hero building/hero worship presented as history. Early on, the author got me. I like to characterize myself as a student of history. But I had no idea about the pair of shipwrecked gentlemen shipwrecked in Holland in 60 BC, believed today to have been Native American.
The Poker Game/DND Table:
Benjamin Franklin for either, or both, would be an awesome evening.
_________________
Things I’ve Learned:
In making one of my above comments, this book forced me to look up the term cognoscenti.
This was a bucket of ice water to the face and I'm glad my teacher friend recommended it. I grew up with a puritan eurocentric white background and only got the "nice nice" version of history and everything else was ignored. The book is a wee bit behind on politically correct language because it was revised in 2006, but I think it does a good job for the time. I'd recommend this book to everyone, tbh. It's EXTREMELY uncomfortable, but highly necessary.
It's also gonna wear you out, I had to stop and read another book in the middle so I could rest and digest before returning to it, lol.
It's also gonna wear you out, I had to stop and read another book in the middle so I could rest and digest before returning to it, lol.
Some of us read enough to "know" that the history we're taught isn't always completely accurate, but it's nice to see it laid out in a clear way with examples. This book could have been as large as the textbooks he criticizes, but he chooses some good examples for someone else to begin to find more stories and critically read not only history but current events as well. This definitely explains the Fox News mentality (my country, love it or leave it).
Americans need to learn from the Wilson era, that there is a connection between racist presidential leadership and like-minded public response.
This book is so important to read.
I do not know if there is any other field of knowledge which suffers so badly as history from the sheer blind repetitions that occur year after year, and from book to book.
History is a subject that I haven't taken since high school. Because I, like so many others, found it incredibly boring. I grew up in Canada but largely what was taught was the same. I learned the US presidents and how the US and Canada split. But the underlying theme was the same. Canada is great and awesome and look at all the things we have done! But History isn't all sugar and spice and everything nice.
We didn't learn about Columbus in the slave trade, or how he used Indians for dog food, or how he cut their ears and hands off because he wanted gold. We didn't learn Jefferson owned slaves. We didn't learn that American Indian camps were Hitler's inspiration.
And not knowing is a dangerous thing. History has been rewritten to avoid controversy, and in doing that we have removed any lessons we could possibly learn from it and any conclusions we may draw from it by independent thinking.
Our teachers have failed us. Loewen does a great job of asking questions about why we learn what we learn and the dangers we face by modifying our history that is so relevant today.
History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, and if faced With courage, need not be lived again.
I highly recommend everyone reads this.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
This book is so important to read.
I do not know if there is any other field of knowledge which suffers so badly as history from the sheer blind repetitions that occur year after year, and from book to book.
History is a subject that I haven't taken since high school. Because I, like so many others, found it incredibly boring. I grew up in Canada but largely what was taught was the same. I learned the US presidents and how the US and Canada split. But the underlying theme was the same. Canada is great and awesome and look at all the things we have done! But History isn't all sugar and spice and everything nice.
We didn't learn about Columbus in the slave trade, or how he used Indians for dog food, or how he cut their ears and hands off because he wanted gold. We didn't learn Jefferson owned slaves. We didn't learn that American Indian camps were Hitler's inspiration.
And not knowing is a dangerous thing. History has been rewritten to avoid controversy, and in doing that we have removed any lessons we could possibly learn from it and any conclusions we may draw from it by independent thinking.
Our teachers have failed us. Loewen does a great job of asking questions about why we learn what we learn and the dangers we face by modifying our history that is so relevant today.
History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, and if faced With courage, need not be lived again.
I highly recommend everyone reads this.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
This book rocked my world and made me rethink almost every historical fact I've ever been taught about the United States. Everyone can learn something from this book.
A good read about how our textbooks in history are failing our students. As someone who major in history in college I wasn't too surprised on the information, since I found out once I got to college different facts that I grew up to believe were not true. It's a good read for anyone who is curious to see how textbooks on history are written and how they are needing to be changed if we want our students and children to become good Americans and not believe everything they are told, but to seek out the answer, research it and come up with their own conclusion.
read a lot like a text book, which I wasn't ready for. but I loved the author's voice in the introduction and its chock full of amazing information that is crazy to think that no one shared these details with us as children. overall, not a snuggle up and read kind of book but still important.