Rating: 
Summary: An answer to comments
Review: One of the comments that seems to appear in many reviews of Mr. Loewen's work is the statement that he tries to view the past with a modern lense (Painting Columbus extremely poorly due to his mistreatment of Indians). However, Mr. Loewen does state that we should NOT judge Columbus based on our current view of human rights. Yes, he does say that. Maybe he should state it more often, to make that point clear.
Rating:
Summary: What I Think
Review: I haven't yet read this book, but I think that, from what I can gather here, it is a lot like the book "The Language Police," which is about the PC sanitation and bowdlerization of public school textbooks; it does this at the grave expense of inaccurately portraying history. I think that I can safely assume that "Lies My Teacher Told Me" goes along a similar vein. Hell, I never remembered reading that Colombus slaughtered Indians. All they told us was that he "discovered America," even though indigenous tribes had been living there for millennia. That's pretty much it. Oh, and that he also "discovered that the world was round," even though many already knew that.P.S.: I give it four stars because, although I haven't read the book, five stars would be presumptuous, wouldn't it?
Rating: 
Summary: Why we Americans believe we can do no wrong.
Review: The author quite convincingly explains how we Americans have been brought up to expect that we can "help" foreign countries on our own terms, not theirs, as we have been taught that all we have done in the past was such a good thing. It should be no surprise that the Administration and even Congress went half-blindly into the current Iraq war, believing that America could only be helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Mission Accomplished - Controversial and Being Discussed
Review: The author is a professor. Professors are paid to teach and do research. This book is his research and the more people that read the book the better for the writer. Also it is a vehicle so he can vent a few personal issues along the way. A nice controversy helps. Professors like to find the errors in others works and to bring a great deal of attention and credit to themselves. I know first hand I was a professor. In that way they become "famous" and sell their books and get more grants. That is how their system works. That is the motivation behind the work and it has worked. He has created a lot of controversy by finding "errors" in some school books. Everyone knows the school texts have errors and are "air brushed" if you will and are prepared for young children and adolescents not for thinking adults. For example we would not want to show every human fraility of people such as Martin Luther King who was otherwise an inspirational leader. But it is just as ridiculous to apply modern standards to 500 year old historic figures in terms of modern race relations, or to complain that one group is paid more than another in a democratic society controlled by supply and demand. I am not a history teacher that was associated with any text nor do I have a social agenda. So I think I can give a neutral review. For myself, the problem with the book is that it also smacks of "cooking the results" so to speak to prove its points and it carries a strong dose of negative personal bias. To do that is an academic "no, no". My feeling is that the author has a too much bias. That comes through the in the writing, and in the in the end it reduces his arguments and credibility and his ability to carry a believable message. But the book has worked and generated a controversy. But it probably will not be very effective in making any real changes, ceratinly not to re-write the history of political figures and their description using modern PC correct ideas. My humble opinion. Three stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: True Lies
Review: Did anyone else recognized the same trend I found within most of the negative reviews, that being most are short, ill-constructed, ill-worded, and provide little or no substantive or real critical analysis and are often frequently laden with the same consumerist-dogmatic rhetoric and euphemistic fallacies instilled to these reviewers from grade one by the same elite-authoritarians this author is referring too? Not that this is a great book, but I do not believe that the author's intention was to project himself as an expert, or leading historian, or to try to convince the reader that this work is 'the' definitive unabridged history text which should be used within the decimated US school system. It seems to me that his true intent - like most of Howard Zinn's "People's History"- was in fact an attempt show an alternative, non-elitist's, point of view of certain historical events, to try to demonstrate to the reader that most high school text books lack in scope, and differing points of view, preventing the necessary development of critical thought of the students; the primary ingredient lacking in most American's, and thus reason the average citizen in this country has become sentient-automatons, controlled by the corporate-elite and it's corporate-socialist sect. I would recommend the book to anyone whom is new to, and interested in understanding how the government (which is now controlled by a select-few individuals and corporations) propaganda machine works and controls the masses of under-educated Americans, or would like additional perspectives on certain historic events, such as how Chistopher Columbus slaughtered, in to extinction, a whole race of human-beings, over 3 million Taino Indians.
Rating:
Summary: Great analysis
Review: I think one of the misconceptions regarding this book is that it's a revisionist history book. It is actually more of a critical analysis of current high school history books that uses examples of revisionist history to show flaws in the way American history is taught. Being such, there are some topics and events that are not covered; which is not a flaw if you look at this book for what it really is: a review of other books. The main discussions revolve around blinding hero-worship of historical figures (mainly Christopher Columbus), race issues (centrally focusing on Native American and African American historical misrepresentations), the American class system, and the myths surrounding American foreign policy (mostly pertaining to the latter half of the 20th century). As the author is a prominent sociologist, the book is very much focused on the social impact of historical events and is against writing history as an emotionless script, which seems to be the biggest problem with high school American history texts. While this does lead the author to present some controversial (and at times extremist) points of view, his sources are always well documented and he takes great care in making sure the reader knows there are alternate points of view that are also worth examining. For someone who has rarely seen history presented as such, I must say this perspective is very refreshing and much more interesting. It is quite eye-opening to have so many things you believed in shown to be lies and half-truths. This books allows a fresh and more critical view of the way things are today in America. If you are looking for a "complete" revisionist history of America you would be better off looking elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are new to revisionist history or are the kind of person that has always thought there is something not quite right about the history we are taught - this is the book for you. This the perfect introduction to the truth, complete with analysis of why we are lied to like this.
Rating:
Summary: On the case of ideology
Review: This is a superb little study of the distortions in our knowledge of history using as a benchmark the analysis and comparison of a series of textbooks. The study of ideology is too often too arcane, jargon-ridden, or a leftist pose or exercise in rhetoric. We can tune out from critique entirely! Getting down to cases helps, and this book produces results. I usually think myself reasonably well informed, but this text surprised me over and over and uncovers a host of 'lost' data, beside the howlers that lard history textbooks used in schools. The study of history is crucial, absolutely vital, yet the subject languishes, and the ignorance of students, and the public, is abysmal. Part of the reason perhaps is unconscious ideological deafness in the face of distorted views. Students tune out. Beyond that the surface of history is too easily made the object of distortions and the result is boilerplate ad infinitum. From Wilson's rank racism, to the mythology of Columbus, and through to the Vietnam war and a host of other 'mendacity zones', the author uncovers a very considerable list of startling facts, and one wishes that this level of common sense brought to ideological expose without the jargon were more common, standard. Good show.
Rating:
Summary: a fresh look at history textbooks
Review: This book gives a fresh look at the history text books you and I may have read (or not read, as the case may be) in high school. James Loewen examines 12 of the leading American History textbooks and looks at what they do and do not tell about American History. Loewen looks at American history and some of the biggest myths that our textbooks present as fact. When I first started reading this book I expected Loewen to examine some lies and debunk them. He does do this, but the level of detail James Loewen provides is staggering. Here's an example: There is a chapter in this book titled "The Truth About the First Thanksgiving". Loewen discusses what American children are commonly taught, about how the Pilgrims were blown off course and landed on Plymouth Rock and how the Pilgrims became friends with the Indians and that the Thanksgiving Feast has been a yearly tradition ever since that time. Loewen then reveals how much of that story is not true and backs up his case with documentation. Even when I felt that Loewen had made his case, he kept on piling more and more evidence on top of the story. It almost felt as if Loewen was going for an overkill of evidence against the textbook's version. Loewen examines various textbooks to see which ones got something right, and how many of them completely miss the mark and just parrot back the common thanksgiving myth. Loewen does the same thing on chapters on: The heroification of Woodrow Wilson and Hellen Keller, Christopher Columbus, Race History, Abraham Lincoln and John Brown, the American Indians. This book is at its best when examining the mistruths that American History textbooks have taught us, and how they have taught us. The last couple of chapters are different, the examine how the textbooks came to be like this, and what can be done about it. This is where I began to lose interest, when Loewen began making conclusions on how textbooks should be written and how they can be fixed. I loved this book and found it very insightful on just how much is omitted from text books and what is presented as fact that has no basis in reality. I found it striking that half of the text books Loewen examined didn't even have a bibliography, thus making it impossible to check the sources the text books may have used. I feel that everyone (Americans, at least) should read this book to see what has been misrepresented in history classes.
Rating: 
Summary: Good start-did not finish
Review: As a liberal who does not appreciate the rewritting of history, I found the book's premise to have merit and it began well. But on page 50 Loewen lost me. He quotes from the work of Ivan Van Sertima, one of best known Afrocentric wishful thinkers. Except for a little skimming, I was finshed with Lies My Teacher Told Me.
Rating:
Summary: What is the point?
Review: There are many reviews of LMTTM that are either critical or glorious based upon the pre-existing beliefs of the reviewers, which reinforces one of the main themes of the book. And perhaps we have missed the point. "Despite my sincere effort, this book undoubtedly contains important errors and should not simply be presumed true" (p. 313) The book isn't about blind belief, it is about doing the homework, looking at all sides and objectively determining whatever you will. This book is not so much about WHAT to think as it is HOW to think (apologies to the original source of that famous line). The teaching of political history is important so that people might learn "How to judge for themselvs what will secure or endanger their freedom" Thomas Jefferson. I strongly recommend reading this book.
If you love it why? If you hate it why?
| 
