James Loewen undertakes a review of the history books that are commonly utilized in the US public school system. He uncovers the factual inaccuracies present within those books.

The book delves into numerous common practices in the publishing of history textbooks. It particularly focuses on the sanitization of our history for children and what is deemed appropriate for them to know about our country.

Prior to reading this, I had never truly contemplated my own experiences with history in school. However, I now feel that a great deal of what he discusses is indeed valid, and I concur with much of what he has to say.

I do tend to lean more towards the liberal side. Nevertheless, I don't believe there is anything amiss with acknowledging our country's mistakes. I firmly believe that the fact that we do not educate people properly about our history and government plays a rather significant role in the emergence of many problems.

People have the right to be informed of the truth and make their own decisions. I don't think criticizing a country's behavior necessarily makes a person unpatriotic. Many people are blamed for their poor voting choices, but this is not alleviated by the lack of information that most people have regarding our actual history.

I truly relished this book, and it made me think about a plethora of things that I hadn't before. My enjoyment of this might stem from the fact that I am still relatively young and haven't read as many books of this nature. Nonetheless, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to those interested in history or those who are dissatisfied with the static, sanitized history they learned in school.

I have a great passion for works that present the unadulterated truth about history. Such works have the power to enlighten and educate us, allowing us to understand the past in a more profound way.

However, when it comes to this specific book, my experience was rather different. It gave me the impression that the author was more concerned with proving a particular point or agenda, rather than simply revealing the facts.

This made it difficult for me to fully trust and engage with the content. Instead of a straightforward and objective account of history, I felt as though I was being led down a certain path.

While I understand that every author has their own perspective and biases, I believe that when it comes to historical works, it is essential to strive for objectivity and accuracy. This way, readers can form their own opinions based on the facts, rather than being influenced by the author's personal beliefs or motives.

Overall, while I still appreciate works that offer an uncensored view of history, this particular book served as a reminder that we must always approach such works with a critical eye.

What I have learned from this textbook is quite profound.

First, it's not strange that I despised history/social studies in high school but now find it captivating.

Second, it seems that textbook "authors" are too lazy to conduct their own research, resulting in all textbooks telling the same apocryphal tales like George Washington and the cherry tree, the first Thanksgiving, Columbus as an all-round good guy, and the US as an "international good-guy peacekeeper" without any ulterior motives, making every little fact on each page questionable.

Third, our history is far more abundant and interesting than any single book (including this one) can ever convey. Relying solely on one book to teach a class like this is setting both teachers and students up for failure.

Fourth, although history is founded on facts, the interpretation of those facts is constantly evolving, and how we learn about them is based on previous social changes. It is the responsibility of every student and teacher to distinguish fact from interpretation and then apply their own interpretations as necessary. A discussion of slavery and Reconstruction written by a privileged European-American before the Civil Rights movement won't hold much weight if read critically rather than just for memorizing facts for the test.

Fifth, our leaders have learned from the past and are applying its lessons to the present and future.

As German Field Marshall Hermann Goering said, "Of course the people do not want war....But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism."

Read this book now. Then go out and read more books, preferably primary and secondary sources that tell the actual story and include the controversies that still persist, both in attributing motives to the people who made history and in interpreting what the facts truly mean for the present and the future.

I originally picked up this book several years ago because the blurb on the back cover really appealed to me.

“Lies My Teacher Told Me” is for anyone who has ever fallen asleep in history class.

Mr. Loewen's premise is that history textbooks have been presented in a slanted, optimistic, and patriotic "dumbed-down" view of America. This is because it suits the needs of the conservative white people who sit on the textbook adoption boards. By critiquing 12 highly used American History textbooks, the author successfully presents several topics that they currently address and uncovers the alleged omissions and distortions.

I completely agree with the author's basic belief that American students are getting short-changed when we present only the PC-version of our country's heritage. Not to mention the fact that this watered-down presentation only serves to bore them all to tears. Students consider history to be "the most irrelevant" and "boring" of all the 21 subjects commonly taught in school. I, personally, was interested to learn that not one of the twelve textbooks described the geopolitical implications of Christopher Columbus's encounter with the Americans. None mention that Columbus was the first to send slaves across the Atlantic. When we present our youth the world through rose-colored glasses, where no controversial subjects arise, it no doubt causes them to be ill-prepared for the real world that exists beyond the classroom.

However, having said all that, I found that Loewen was overplaying the "politically correct" hand himself. He replaced the conservative, Euro-centric rhetoric with his own overtly socialist and liberal leanings. His strong opinions on historical events may cause some readers to overlook his message on education. For me, it made for just the kind of boring recitation of skewed political propaganda that the author claims to be rallying against. If you are interested in the topic of education and how it is being inseminated to our children through textbook censorship and abridgement of the facts, then I would recommend Diane Ratvitch's "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn" for a more balanced examination of this issue. (Clicking on the title will link you to a reader's journal/discussion of the book.)

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is a remarkable work that should be a compulsory read starting from the elementary level.

At the elementary school stage, students can begin to familiarize themselves with the idea that not everything in traditional history textbooks is entirely accurate.

Then, at the middle school level, it should be studied again to deepen their understanding and critical thinking.

By the high school level, it should be truly taught as a means of developing analytical thinking throughout all four years.

As a child, I had a strong aversion to American History because it simply didn't seem like the truth. The history books I was obligated to read failed to teach history objectively. Instead, they emphasized the supposed superiority of European white men over other cultures.

The portrayal of Native Americans was negative, and there was no mention of the contributions of Blacks. Even as a young child, I could sense that the book in front of me presented a one-sided view of history, and a one-sided view is not history at all!

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong shows us that as long as accurate history is not taught, racism and white entitlement will persist.

Therefore, Lies My Teacher Told Me. Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is an essential read for everyone.

Hellen Keller was a radical socialist! Woodrow Wilson was a unapologetic white supremacist! James Loewen begins his book by revealing the real Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson, which you likely didn't learn in high school history class.

This sets the stage for a captivating exploration of how American history textbooks distort, delete, and ignore the truth. Loewen examines the reasons behind this, including creating patriotic students, selling textbooks, and pleasing parents and interest groups.

He then takes history books to task, showing how they fail to tell the true story. For example, he reveals that very few people in 1492 believed the world was flat, Columbus wasn't the discoverer of America, and his "discovery" led to the extermination of native populations.

Loewen also critiques the glorification of the South during the Confederacy and the absence of racism in American history textbooks. He shows how textbooks tell a revisionist history of Reconstruction that fits into racist ideology.

The book goes on to discuss other topics, such as the ignoring of social class in America, the disappearance of the recent past, and the idea that progress is the main American product. Throughout, Loewen argues that history textbooks should provide both sides of an issue and encourage critical thinking.

Overall, I found this book enlightening and thought-provoking. It made me question what I thought I knew about American history and showed me the importance of looking at different viewpoints. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history or education.

*One note: a new version, expanded and updated, just came out. So read that one! I didn't, because I found this book on my wife's shelf.

The author, who is a university sociologist teaching in Vermont, carefully reviewed a dozen of the most popular U.S. history textbooks that are used in high schools.

When it comes to various themes such as the 'discovery' of the Americas, native Americans, and labor history, he proceeds to reveal the extremely bad, yet common errors of fact. He also discusses the reasons why these errors occur, their conservative tendency, and their consequences.

Besides dumbing down the students, such inaccurate narratives make the books and the entire historical project seem boring and suspect in the eyes of the readers.

And why does this happen? It is due to establishment politics, which is discussed in a concluding chapter about textbook production and sales to the states.

This analysis highlights the importance of ensuring the accuracy and objectivity of history textbooks to provide students with a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of the past.

In the spirit of "Lies My Teacher Told Me," my review will be a critique of the other Goodreads reviews of this book, analyzing their misinterpretations of the text.

Many Goodreads reviewers believed this book had a "liberal agenda." One reviewer even claimed, "I found Loewen was overplaying the 'politically correct' hand himself, replacing the conservative, Euro-centric rhetoric with his own overtly socialist and liberal leanings." Such reviews likely reveal more about the readers than the book. The term "politically correct" should be eliminated from our vocabulary as it is often used to criticize the act of treating others with respect. If one has an issue with being "politically correct" as described here, then the problem lies with them. But does this book have a liberal agenda? Does it have an agenda at all?

Yes, it does. The author is an educated liberal sociologist. The agenda is to counter the Eurocentric, racist, misogynist, and sometimes false portrayal of American history in high school textbooks. It does so with facts and provides extensive documentation from peer-reviewed sources. The mission could be to oppose the teaching of propaganda, but what likely labels it as having a "liberal agenda" is the author's focus on how textbooks favor white male students over female and POC peers.

Another Goodreads review wrongly complained that the author didn't interview the textbook authors and publishers. In fact, a significant portion of the book contains direct quotes from them, along with analysis of their skewed presentations and the impact on students. While this section was tedious, it was also a strong use of the author's sociological background.

Much of the corrected history in the book was not new to me, as I had learned from other sources and my current work. However, I was disappointed that Loewen glossed over some areas like the Korean War and the Great Depression. My high school education in these areas was lacking, and I'll have to keep reading to fill in the gaps.

The audiobook had pronunciation issues that annoyed me, so I also got a hard copy to read the references. Overall, this book felt like a three-star read due to its age, but I gave it a fourth star considering its important mission to correct the misinformation in high school classrooms. A revised second edition is definitely needed.

So far so good!

This book is truly AMAZING!!!

It has captivated me from the very first page. The story is engaging, the characters are well-developed, and the writing style is simply superb.

It's a must-read for anyone who loves a good book. Whether you're into mystery, romance, or adventure, this book has something for everyone.

I can't put it down and I highly recommend it to all my friends and family.

Don't miss out on this incredible literary masterpiece. Grab a copy today and prepare to be swept away!

This is an extremely important book for anyone residing in the United States.

James Loewen delves into some of our common national history, mainly through the perspective of textbooks. He has meticulously combed through 18 of the top-selling American history textbooks (and an additional 6 as of the 2007 update that I read).

In those textbooks, he has uncovered a pervasive Euro-centrism, where the achievements of white people are given excessive weight, overshadowing the other peoples and cultures that have participated in our history. The subtle and not-so-subtle use of language has strengthened this; for example, "our" antecedents are called "settlers" for the same activities that label "their" ancestors as "invaders".

It's not that teachers are deliberately telling lies, but rather that a number of influences, both financial and political, combine to eliminate anything from textbooks that could be regarded as controversial or unpatriotic. As a result, we receive no instruction in critiquing past American actions. This leaves us ill-prepared to understand how we arrived at our current situation, lacking the inspiration to make a change, and bored in classes filled with rote memorization of stories that are presented unrealistically and incompletely.

The chapters cover a wide range of topics such as the "discovery" of the "new world", the tendency to create heroes and overlook flaws, the atrocities of Christopher Columbus, the first Thanksgiving, the treatment of Native Americans, racism in textbooks, John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, the Reconstruction South, the "nadir" of race relations from 1890-1940, upward mobility, an excessive focus on positive portrayals of the federal government, the Vietnam War, foreign involvement, 9/11, the emphasis on "progress", environmentalism, and the textbook approval process itself.

For each topic, Loewen can precisely point out how many textbooks within his sample actually treated the topic fairly (very few indeed), and cites specific examples of omitted topics, authors who have neither written nor read their own attributed books, and lazy copying between publishers who hire anonymous freelance writers to produce these massive 1,000+ page tomes.

It's an eye-opening book. Loewen clearly has an agenda and a perspective to share, but it's one that is worth considering, even if you think it is overly political. At the very least, it will make you (as it did me) more aware of some obvious problems with our collective treatment of the past.

Upon reflection, it becomes evident that while textbooks frequently contain inaccuracies in various aspects, the more profound issue lies in the scarcity of actual facts being taught in general.

Kids are taught fundamental concepts like the multiplication tables, but beyond that, much of what is covered in elementary school seems to be a series of worksheet-based themed tasks. For instance,围绕着乔治·华盛顿的概念展开，其中可能包括给樱桃树的图片上色等活动。

I might be mistaken, but it appears that elementary school education is largely accumulating layers of folklore in an indirect manner.

Nonetheless, this is an excellent book that delves into these and other thought-provoking topics. It offers valuable insights into the state of education and challenges us to reevaluate the way we teach and what we prioritize in the classroom.

Perhaps it is time to consider a more fact-based and comprehensive approach to elementary education to ensure that our children are equipped with the knowledge they need to navigate the complex world around them.

This is an absolute must-read primer for US citizens. It is designed for those who either ignored history or, like me, have a passion for learning it. Loewen uncovers the corruption within textbook publishers and the blatant lies that they have been getting away with while selling to us and our children for decades.

I consider myself a fairly well-read history buff. However, this book made me audibly gasp in shock on numerous occasions due to my ignorance of subjects that I thought I knew because of my education.

History is of utmost importance and incredibly interesting, but only if we can utilize it to understand how and why we are in the present situation. Teachers, parents, and students should not only demand better but also the gritty, ugly truth about our country's past, not just the golden, shiny aspects. We need to have a comprehensive and accurate understanding of history to make informed decisions and progress in the future.