Summary Of Everything American Textbook Got Wrong By James Loewon

“For when textbook authors leave out the warts, the problems, the unfortunate character traits, and the mistaken ideas, they reduce heroes from dramatic men and women to melodramatic stick figures. Their inner struggles disappear and they become goody- goody, not just merely good.” (Loewen, pg. 29). “Lies My Teacher Told Me” is a non- fiction book written by author, American sociologist, and historian, James W. Loewen. The popular belief is that schools buy the textbook that best fits the curriculum, and by following these textbooks, students are learning to the best of their ability. However, Loewen challenges this belief by providing evidence from eighteen different American history textbooks. He believes that people in history should not be depicted as heroes when they simply are not. To continue, Loewen states that students find history to be so boring since they can not relate to it or the people in it. On page 354, he even concludes his book by stating, “Students will start finding history interesting when their teachers and textbook stop lying to them.”

1. Each author had their own objective in writing each of the books. Both books tell the tale of history much like any other textbook. However, each book leaves out certain events creating a noticeable bias between the two. In The People’s History of the United States, the liberal author Howard Zinn writes about American history in a particularly unconventional way to convince the reader that there is another side to the history of the United States, one that does not necessarily invoke a feeling of patriotism, but rather showcases several flaws. On the other hand, Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen write about American history in a very patriotic way in A Patriot’s History of the United States to persuade the reader that one should feel a sense of pride in the history of the United States. Although they bear many similarities due to history not changing, the differences between The People’s History of the United States and A Patriot’s History of the United States are very pronounced due to the bias of each author.

Annotated Bibliography Loewen, James W. LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME. The New Press, 2018. In James W. Loewen’s first chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me, he describes the act of heroification in teaching history. Loewen found evidence in high school textbooks that the complete story of historical figures was not included. He focuses on the stories of Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller, showing that we know about Keller’s childhood overcoming disabilities but not her adult work as a socialism advocate.

For the Junior summer reading, the “nonfiction” book written by Dave Eggers has developed substantial controversy regarding its credibility. Although throughout the book Zeitoun was depicted as a righteous hero that suffered great injustices due to the racial profiling and islamophobia. However, in 2013 that persona was challenge when he was accused of attempted murder of his ex wife Kathy. This resulted in severe press coverage surrounding both Zeitoun and Eggers damaging their reputations, many believing that the event of the book are fabricated in order to better serve Eggers purpose. Nevertheless, Eggers work should still be read by students because it allows them to practices identifying strategies crucial for the AP English course.

James W. Loewen wrote the book “Lies My Teacher Told Me” to help students understand the past of the United States, and how it is effecting the present time. “Lies My Teacher Told Me” looks at 12 different American history textbooks, and points out the different lies, flaws, and sugar coated stories the textbooks present. Lowen explains how textbooks practice heroification, and how race and race relations are a major issue when it comes to American history. Among these topics, Lowen also sheds light on the truth about social classes in America, and how textbooks lie about the past and try to avoid the recent past all together.

High school history textbooks are seen, by students, as presenting the last word on American History. Rarely, if ever, do they question what their text tells them about our collective past. According to James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, they should be. Loewen has spent considerable time and effort reviewing history texts that were written for high school students. In Lies, he has reviewed twenty texts and has compared them to the actual history. Sadly, not one text measures up to the author's expectation of teaching students to think. What is worse, though, is that students come away from their classes without "having developed the ability to think coherently about social

After reading this chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me, the reader finds out information that is shocking and completely different compared to what they have been taught. Not to mention it makes sense. Ideas have either been falsified or twisted into something that is not entirely true. History textbooks really do leave out the information or give the wrong information, that could really make history more enjoyable and interesting for its

Moreover, the “‘committee concluded that the textbook doesn 't meet basic standards and guiding principles in the history profession’”. The report of the committee determined the

In his book there are many examples such as.. “ Can this be true? This is the twentieth century not the middle ages, who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?”(pg.118) In this section he was talking about how the holocaust was going on at the time. He was saying that nobody was trying to stop it and let it continue. “Human rights are being violated on every continent more people are oppressed than free.”(pg.119) When he said this he is saying that there is madness everywhere. People are being locked up and forced to be slaves everywhere all over the world, and more people are locked up than there are people free. “ Why did he write this book? To keep history from repeating itself and also to leave his legacy behind” (pg. vii) In this quote he was being asked why did he write this book over what he went through. He responded by basically saying that he wanted to tell how severe and crucial things were so

The consideration of other people, not yourself, and the knowledge of the little we all actually know, builds theory and desire for observation that lasts eons. Reactionary philosophy, especially in a sneaky, preachy, wrapper has never lasted the time test. My question is this. Why is this book required reading in High Schools? The last thing Americans need is to be more self-focused.

The purpose of his writing is to educate people of the unfair and unjust treatment of black people, even after the Civil War. The author does not list any sources. His style of writing is descriptive and powerful. However, I sometimes found it difficult to follow. Overall, I enjoyed reading some of his book.

Public consensus, similar to politics, varies greatly when it comes to American history, especially as it pertains to the classroom. Views about the content and historical interpretation included in history texts have reached a heightened polarization in recent years. This can be seen in the vast differences between the diatribes of Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States, and Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen’s, A Patriot’s History of the United States. While both books, prescribed by this introductory course into American History, cover many of the same topics, they clearly paint different pictures. I feel that any text seeking to represent a responsible survey of a

When I learned history from textbooks, I trusted blindly in them. I doubt that most of people will have suspicions from them. Well, in fact, “each” histories were written by historians and they “injected” their intensions in textbooks. I, as a student, won’t be able to classify what is true and what is not from them. At school, I believed in everything that was written in history books. For instance, Japan and South Korea is fighting to insist that the land called “Dokdo” in Korean and “Takeshima” in Japanese, is their own land. As I learned history in South Korea, I definitely thought the land belonged to us. The fact is that Japanese believe the land belongs to them, because Japanese history books must have said so. I realized just

The study of history and the teaching of history has come under intense public debate in the United States in the last few decades. The “culture-wars” began with the call to add more works by non-Caucasians and women and has bled into the study of history. Not only in the study of history or literature, this debate has spread into American culture like wildfire.

James Loewen uses his piece Lies my Teacher Told Me to reveal the flaws in America’s mainstream textbooks. Loewen points out the fact that textbooks try to “indoctrinate blind patriotism” (Loewen 6) and “keep students in the dark about the nature of history” (Loewen 8). Almost every American textbook sells history using the “soft seduction” approach, as explained in Robert Greene’s book, The Art of Seduction. Textbooks try to seduce Americans into being proud of their country by making American historical figures look like heroes, like in the case of Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson, and Christopher Columbus. “Heroification” (Loewen 11) has a