shopping cart
Let Powell's Be Your Valentine
Call us: 800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
403 Forbidden

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /user/ on this server.

403 Forbidden

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /post/ on this server.

Lies My Teacher Told Me

by James W Loewen

Lies My Teacher Told Me Cover

Awards

1996 American Book Award
Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship
back to top

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Winner of the 1996 American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship

Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that:

  • The United States dropped three times as many tons of explosives in Vietman as it dropped in all theaters of World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  • Ponce de Leon went to Florida mainly to capture Native Americans as slaves for Hispaniola, not to find the mythical fountain of youth

  • Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in fact a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations

  • The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia but Massachusetts

From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

Review:

Jon Wiener

The Nation

"One of the virtues of Loewen's book is that in addition to highlighting some subjects the textbooks neglect, he also examines the topics they emphasize."

Review:

Sandy Lydon

San Jose Mercury News

"Every history teacher in the land (including Professor Gingrich) needs to read this book."

Review:

Publishers Weekly

"Readers interested in history, whether liberal or conservative, professional or layperson, will find food for thought here."

back to top

About the Author

James W. Loewen

James W. Loewen is professor of sociology at the University of Vermont. He is coauthor of the first integrated state-history textbook,

Mississippi: Conflict and Change, and creator of The Truth About Columbus: A Subversively True Poster Book for a Dubiously

Celebratory Occasion.

back to top

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Something Has Gone Very Wrong

1 Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-making

2 1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus

5 The Truth about the First Thanksgiving

4 Red Eyes

5 "Gone with the Wind": The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks

6 John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks

7 The Land of Opportunity

8 Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government

9 Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of the Recent Past

10 Progress Is Our Most Important Product

11 Why Is History Taught Like This?

12 What Is the Result of Teaching History Like This?

Afterword: The Future Lies Ahead — and What to Do about Them

Notes

Appendix

Index

back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
crowyhead, October 18, 2007 (view all comments by crowyhead)
This book is extremely enlightening, and the author's tone is both witty and informative.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(14 of 26 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Brook, June 13, 2007 (view all comments by Brook)
To use a recently-learned 'textclamation' I picked up from playing World of Warcraft... ZOMG!!!

This book is amazing, disturbing, depressing, and fascinating all at once. Loewen doesn't just tell you what your teacher left out; he also explains why it was left out in the first place. Either because of the teacher's own bias, the economics of textbook publishing, or politics of 'faith,' there are numerous factors unrelated to a child's education that influence what he or she will be taught in American schools.

This is a must-read for anyone that aspires to independent thinking.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(21 of 36 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Margaret FalerSweany, December 19, 2006 (view all comments by Margaret FalerSweany)
As a teacher, I was frustrated with how little my students knew of America's history. The Vietnam War was in 1952; Abraham Lincoln was president in the 1700s! Lies My Teacher Told Me provides an excellent analysis of why American History textbooks are bland, inaccurate, and even blatantly wrong. He shows us how vibrant individuals like Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Columbus have been turned into 1-dimensional, perfect heroes. His discussions of race, women's rights efforts, and progress--which permeate the book--sculpt an exciting tale of the shaping of American attitudes. Much of what is happening in current political scenes can be seen as replicating the actions of previous eras. Much of the rhetoric we hear today can be found in the poorly written history our children have learned from textbooks that try to offend no special interest group. My copy has now been read/heard by seven people, each who has found it exhilarating to read and passed it along to another. I'm hoping it eventually returns to me.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(32 of 49 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
View all 4 comments
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780684818863
Subtitle:
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
Author:
Loewen, James W.
Author:
Loewen, James W.
Publisher:
Touchstone
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
History
Subject:
United states
Subject:
United States - General
Subject:
Study & Teaching
Subject:
Historiography
Subject:
Textbooks
Subject:
General education.
Subject:
Indians of North America in textbooks.
Subject:
Thanksgiving Day in textbooks.
Subject:
General Education
Subject:
General History
Copyright:
1996
Edition Number:
1st Touchstone ed.
Edition Description:
B102
Series Volume:
104-231
Publication Date:
January 1995
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
384
Dimensions:
9.28x6.18x.66 in. .92 lbs.
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. $4.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian

    Stephen E Ambrose
  2. $18.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present (P.S.)

    Howard Zinn
  3. $10.00 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present (Perennial Classics)

    Howard Zinn
  4. $8.00 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel -- Why Everything You Know Is Wrong

    John Stossel
  5. $9.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present

    Howard Zinn
  6. $13.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    The Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong

    John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
back to top

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.