E175.85 .L64 2007Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American history Textbook Got Wrong
Loewen, James W.
Library Journal Review:
Starred Review. Loewen (sociology, Univ. of Vermont; Mississippi: Conflict and Change), whose interest lies in looking for "weapons of mass instruction" in American history textbooks, first shared his findings over ten years ago in the best-selling first edition of this book. Here he presents his updated assessments, starting with an introduction that "re-caps" and "pre-caps" what the book covers, and explains his concept of the failings of 12 American history textbooks. He finds, for example, that Woodrow Wilson is still given hero status although he was almost single-handedly responsible for forcing the removal of any one who was not a WASP from all levels of government. He also notes that we are spending more time on the War of 1812 than on our longest war: Vietnam. In an age of "truthiness" and "spin," a work that asks us to challenge students with actual and chronological history, and with images and comments from diverse viewpoints, leaving each student to come to his or her own conclusions, would seem to be of particular importance. Even if your library has the first edition, you must get this update. A fascinating work; highly recommended. Suzanne Lay, Perry H.S. Lib., GA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1 comment:
This book reminds me of Howard Zinn's text "People's history of the United States". I plan to check it out! Marlene
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