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Summary: Revisionist History
Review: This book while it has some redeming value, is also a platform for the authors views, and interpretations of events.
The book is full of unsubstantiated facts, and statements reported as history. History should be like the news is supposed to be, just the facts.
Read the book but keep in mind that just because it's in a book doesn't make it true. And continue to read and talk about these subjects. And most importantly remember the events covered in this book are taken out of historical content. And you can't be sure what you would have done in these times, in these situations.
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Summary: A Student's Perspective
Review: As a student reading this book, I found this book much more interesting than the text books that are read in school. This is probably because the author was not worried about "toning down" history or ceonsoring it, so that the reader was given both the things that caused the event and the effects of the event. Learing history this way is far more interesting than the typical way because the reader is connected with modern society and how the effects of these events can still see today. I also enjoyed finding the things that aren't published in text books because it completes my view of the subject and makes the writing seem more realistic instead of just "feel good". I think that every teacher should try to teach history from all perspectives so that students can become aware of how different cultures feel.
Overall, if you are a student, and bored with history, this is a very good book to read because it will make you realise what teachers could be teaching you.
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Summary: Lies My Teacher Told ME
Review: I think the large amount of customer reviews given for this book show how much it arouses interest, both pro and con. History was very dull and irrelevant to me when I was a student in school, but in reading this book I found that I now want to learn more of our history. I feel that I have a better understanding of how we have evolved to face the kinds of problems we are facing today. As to the question of whether it is correct to give students possibly negative information from history because it might jeopardize their patriotism, I feel that is is like showing a student a beautiful pond to swim in without telling him that there are crocodiles in it. It seems to me that letting the student know the whole picture would make him better qualified to decide a course of action. I personally really enjoyed this book.
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Summary: question:
Review: I haven't read tihs book but it looks interesting, since I agree with the basic thesis that is presented... but I am curious as to why there seems to be no mention of the history of asians in america in this book? I looked through the index and couldn't find one mention of that too-often left-out enormous part of our country's history.
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Summary: Honest History Does NOT Diminish America in Any Way
Review: In this superb book, James Loewen argues what most Americans have understood since childhood, namely that our American History textbooks, are, boring, theme-driven, inaccurate and largely ineffective at imparting the richness of their subject. While the book's title and argument may seem like a leftist gerrymander, they are not. Loewen, a professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont (who spent several years analyzing ten high school American History textbooks totaling more than 8,000 pages), is not out to reverse the traditional cast of heroes and villains in American history. Instead, Loewen advocates an honest and inclusive history that simply reveals events as they actually happened. While this may expose some dark truths about 'heroic' people and events in American history, and may cast historical 'villains' in a new light, Loewen does not believe it will cause students to despise their country. On the contrary, he argues that revealing conflicts and problems that our text books ignore or conceal will make American history come alive and will almost certainly enhance students' appreciation for their country. Ironically, while many textbook editors and teachers fear that altering their inaccurate and theme-driven content will cause students to despise their country, they miss the fact that this is precisely what the specious, vapid nature of the textbooks already accomplishes. Some of Loewen's interesting observations are contained below:COLUMBUS Columbus was almost certainly not the first European to discover or colonize North America. He tortured and mutilated the native population of Haiti and eventually exterminated it by working the inhabitants to death searching for gold. All of these facts are available in the journals of Columbus and his colleagues. NATIVE AMERICANS
Prior to the arrival of white settlers, North America was thickly settled with tens of millions of Indian tribes that formed a complex civilization consisting of advanced agricultural techniques (guess where white settlers learned it from), trade, roads, villages, and government. The white settlers wiped out most of these people at first inadvertently by spreading disease, and then deliberately through wars of extermination. History text books often present Indians as sparse, primitive, violent (it was actually white people who scalped Indians), and inevitable victims of progress. RECONSTRUCTION
For more than one hundred years, history textbooks have characterized post-Civil War Reconstruction as a combination of white corruption and black ineptitude. Few mention that the ultimate cause of Reconstruction's failure was the terrorism that some white southerners perpetrated against black people and white's who favored reconstruction. Many of the so called carpetbaggers and scallywags were in fact anti racists who attempted to help rebuild the south along egalitarian lines. And when given even minimal opportunities (most of which were subsequently dismantled by the government), blacks were able to build successful businesses and to win the Kentucky Derby a few times. LABOR AND SOCIAL CLASSES
High school textbooks never admit that America even has social classes. They treat labor problems as something that happened a long time ago and which the government fixed of its own good will. PROGRESS
The textbooks also present the United States as the vanguard of social progress while failing to admit that many of the social issues we still strive for such as equality between men and women have already been accomplished by other nations or people in history. CIVIL RIGHTS
According to American history text books, the government spontaneously decided to give civil rights to blacks and other oppressed minorities, but this decision did not result from a populist struggle that was initially met with state sponsored violence and brutality. VIETNAM
Similarly U.S. history textbooks argued that the Vietnam War sort of happened and sort of ended. They don't examine why the U.S. got involved in the war and why it stopped fighting. They also overlook the brutality of the war that was waged largely against civilians on whom the United States dropped three times as much bomb tonnage as all theatres of World War II combined including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WHY IS HISTORY TAUGHT THIS WAY
Perhaps the most fascinating part of Loewen's book is his examination of why high school history books are permeated with boredom and lies. Surprisingly, Loewen does not blame this phenomenon on the power elite that ultimately controls the publication of these books. Instead, Loewen concludes that a number of damaging, but less insidious processes are at work. For example, since many history teachers don't really know their subject, they are afraid to challenge or teach outside of the textbooks, which become a source of pedagogical authority. Even qualified and highly motivated teachers are often afraid to deviate from the textbook because they believe that failing to paint a rosy picture of America will somehow hurt students. Finally, there is the textbook publishing industry that is understandably motivated to sell books more than it is to tell the truth. Loewen correctly concludes that when you unmask many of the lies in U.S. History text books, America does not suddenly become odious, and while people like Columbus may become more controversial, they are not transformed into villains. Instead American history is full of conflict that displays the richness and fascination of its history. Concealing and distorting this conflict is sort of like telling a child that his/her parents are perfect. The child will not only get bored with these themes but will quickly learn that they are false. If the child learns that his/her parents made mistakes, then far from hating them, the child will probably appreciate their humanity and learn more from them. History is the same way.
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Summary: A History Lesson from a Different Perspective"
Review: This was a good book about our forgotten history. It discusses how African Americans may perceive the events of America's past. It also reviews other important events and shows how many history books "mis-represent" them.
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Summary: At Least the Slant is Obvious
Review: As many reviewers have remarked, Loewen shows a rather obvious left-wing bias in the writing of this book. I don't really think that should be a problem so long as the reader is aware that (most of the time) they will only learn omissions and errors in one direction. The cases Loewen does present, however, are fascinating. From the earliest settlement of North America (which textbooks give with absolute certainty as occuring at several different dates) to the Vietnam War, Loewen gives a list of case after case where textbooks omit information, distort the information given, or just refuse to let the students make any sort of cause and effect connection. It all adds up to a condemnation of the way history is taught to our students today. I guess the (minor) problem I have with the book is the way that the evidence at times seems rather thin, despite a quite extensive set of footnotes. Sometimes the argument will go along these lines: "Historians once thought that suchandsuch was true, and the textbook agrees. However, this modern historian (see footnote) thinks otherwise, so the textbooks must be wrong". Because I have no way of verifying that the source cited is representative of what modern historians believe, I can't be completely sure Loewen is right. This is only a small blemish on what is otherwise a truly fascinating book.
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Summary: A good starter for this subject
Review: Loewen's book clearly points out a problem: That high school students hate history. He tries to point out the varied reasons why there is such an aversion to history by students. He presents many valid points trying to answer why. He then goes on to give some unknown tidbits about U.S. history in somewhat of a chronological order. Loewen surveys twelve of the most popular high school American history textbooks and has concluded that not one does a competent job. They are inaccurate and biased and oversimplify historical facts and causes. A major criticism of this book is Loewen's obvious "liberal bias." He fills the work with his own political leanings, which tend to skew the relevance of the subject discussed. He presents problems but never actually offers solutions. James Loewen is a professor of sociology and it shows--he is clearly not a history professor. Although, the book brings up many valid points and he does footnote it is chalked full of race and class conflict and these areas take up much of his focus. Another criticism is that the author is constantly repeating and rephrasing material throughout the book. The author's style makes for some hard reading at times. Overall, the book is very informative and thought provoking. It points out that history is political. That historical writing is a reflection of the period in which it was written--Loewen clearly emphasizes this. One of the things the book does best is to generate interest in further study and discussion. It shows that history is not a cut and dry subject with unarguable facts--it is alive and full of controversy. Loewen instills in the reader a desire to discern the facts through further questioning.
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Summary: I think it's more lies
Review: A friend, or former friend for refering me to this book, Tom Walters told me the pilgrims ate Indians. I don't buy it one bit. Pilgrims didn't eat the Indians. Tom you are so wrong.
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Summary: Interesting book, just be prepared for the author's slant
Review: James Loewen's book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" addresses a problem I could easily detect when I was in high school: history class is boring. Worse, it doesn't HAVE to be boring -- I've since read many fascinating history books on my own that have really expanded my knowledge and interest in the subject. In this book Loewer surveys twelve of the most commonly used high school American history books to determine what is wrong with them. Going into this book I expected it to be a straightforward and precise debunking of a lot of exaggerated and manufactured pieces of American folklore, much like Bill Bryson did in his books on the English language. "Lies My Teacher Told Me" is rather more blunt -- Loewen's premise is that history textbooks have been dumbed down and slanted to portray an endlessly optimistic and patriotic view of America which suits the needs of the conservative white people who sit on textbook adoption boards. Loewen does a good job of showing what goes in to publishing a history text -- to assure that the book will be adopted widely, authors must take care not to badmouth southerners, any of the American presidents and forefathers, or the United States in general. Conversely, textbooks are stuck including all sorts of minor historical characters in their narratives to satisfy the local pride of as many different school districts as possible. What results is pre-chewed history which is short on controversial ideas and long on names and dates. This is why history is polled to be students' least favorite subject, according to Loewen. I whole-heartedly agree with the author that history is far more engaging when presented warts-and-all, and with focus on the major debates and controversies of the time, instead of burnishing the reputations of all the major figures and presenting American history as a series of inexorable steps towards world hegemony. Also, it is terribly embarrassing that the United States accuses other countries of white-washing their pasts in their history classes, when of course America does the same thing, if perhaps to a lesser degree. Loewen presents many concrete examples of major omissions in history textbooks, from Columbus' enslavement of native Americans to Woodrow Wilson's overt racism. However. As many other reviewers here have noted, Loewen wears his left-wing biases flagrantly on his sleeve. I first noticed this in Chapter 2, when the author notes that Christopher Columbus is portrayed as "brave, wise, and godly" during his first transatlantic voyage, while "the sailors are stupid, superstitious, cowardly, and sometimes scheming". This description is harmful because "these portrayals amount to an 'anti-working class pro-boss polemic'". That is just the first of many instances where Loewen advances a personal viewpoint in critiquing the history texts. I find this a shame, because I agree with his general principle: Textbooks do contain harmful inaccuracies, from downplaying the complexity of native American cultures, to ignoring the government's open support of racist policies after the end of Reconstruction, to forgetting to mention the brutal and undemocratic regimes the United States supported during the Cold War. However, Loewen overplays his politically correct hand so strongly, it masks his overall point. The reader is forced to split the difference between the conservative, overly patriotic slant displayed by the textbooks and the doomsayer socialist slant of the author. Loewen states that textbooks should not present such a Eurocentric view because it harms the worldview of minority students. I believe that historical accuracy is a goal for its own sake. If textbooks would relate a true narrative about how America came to be where it is today, including both the proud triumphs and the embarrassing missteps, students would become interested in and even passionate about history. "Lies My Teacher Told Me" is good at showing some of the many areas where history textbooks fall short.
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