Lies My Teacher Told Me

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Summary: Oh well......
Review: The title of this book should have been "Lies My Teacher Told Me.. and Since You Bought Those, Here Are Some More For You". Though very well researched, Mr. Loewen is guilty of the same sins that he charges against history textbooks - Revision of history to suit ones own beliefs, omissions of relevant factual data while making an argument, assertions that have no basis in factual evidence nor source materials, and a bias toward "popular fads" rather than concentrating his efforts toward presenting the full truth and allowing independent decisions by readers. On the onset, he makes a good argument, until he does the same old things that have been done in textbooks. For example on page 67 he claims that there were no "non-white" people in Europe before 1492. That is complete nonsense as the Moors had been in Spain, and both Greece and Rome had imported slaves from the Middle East and Africa. So Europe knew full well of other peoples. Its these little things that wear away at the credibility of the author and are just as bad if not worse than the targets of his attacks. This book contains errors of this type throughout. And they are so obvious at points that it distracts completely from the point the author was attempting to make. While I agree completely that our text books today are in need of a complete rewrite, Mr. Loewen's view of history is just as tainted as the ones he attacks. The trouble with our history books is that they try too hard to present in black and white a world which consists of mostly gray. Mr. Loewen does the same thing in this book.
If you are completely enthralled with Political Correctness, here's your history book complete with pre-approved and up to date villains and heroes. If you are hoping to get a glimpse at the truth about our history, try a book by Stephen Ambrose. --This text refers to the Paperback edition

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Summary: Amazed at my ignorance .....
Review: I was blown away by this book ! Loewen knew exactly the lies I had learned in school , and step by step he dismantled them. In school I rarely gave a fig what the teacher was telling me and remembered only the basics, and even those were lies!I am letting my son read the book now and he is enjoying it as much as I did . I gave the book five stars . It was well researched, easy format and most of all honest( something hard to come by.)

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Summary: A Must Read for any Student of American History
Review: As a conservative white male who views revisionist history quite skeptically, I did not expect much from this book. As a student of American history, I understood what a woeful job our textbooks and (unfortunately) our teachers do in teaching the actual history of this country, but I never expected both the depth and the level of scholarship Mr. Loewen presents in this book. It is well researched, well written and much needed. Having grown up near an Indian reservation, my own personal studies in original sources confirm how accurate Mr. Loewen really is. The book is hardly "political correctness" run amuck as suggested by one review. And his point is not to paint America as evil or bash Christian Europeans as two other reviews would lead us to believe. This type of simple minded attack does not tell us anything about the book, but rather betrays the reviewers' own entrenched viewpoints - viewpoints that certainly will not be changed by exposure to the truth. In fact, the criticisms make Mr. Loewen's point almost better than he can as to why history is taught in feel-good myths rather than truth. Yes, Mr. Loewen treats certain issues and not others. He tells us he is doing so several times throughout the book, and makes apologies for it. This is not intended to be a replacement for a full history of the United States. Mr. Loewen makes good and valid suggestions as to such replacements. It is not even intended to be a complete coverage of all the things our history texts get wrong. He would need several more volumes for that, and even then would get some of it wrong. For those who actually read the book (and many reviewers obviously did not), he admits all of this. Mr. Loewen's book is an important start. But it is only a start. One reviewer, in criticising the book, stated that we must learn from our past. But this is exactly the point of the book. We must and can learn from our past, but only if we have the objectivity and moral courage to accept what that past was. As a white Christian Anglo-Saxon male, I feel no need to beat myself up as a result of the deeds done by white Christian Anglo-Saxon males who are long dead. But I do feel the need to move forward with as good an understanding as I can have of the cultural and personal histories that cause people to act as they do - especially those whose backgrounds are so different from my own.

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Summary: biased...interesting...anti-everything
Review: This book was required reading for my 11th grade US History course this summer, and I hope we have a long class discussion on it because I would like to speak my mind. Not all students hate history, and not all students simply accept what textbooks tell them, either.

Although this book contains many interesting facts and stories that would help make the nation's history courses more accurate, it was clearly biased. By the time I was 1/4 of the way through it, I was guessing that Loewen was an atheist African Democrat. If his opinions are so evident in a work that is supposed to combat racism, sexism, censorship, etc., something has gone wrong. It seemed to me that he was against anything connected with whites, Christians, upper-middle-class citizens, and that he had no interest in instilling patriotism in our children.

I do not think that teaching simply "feel-good" history is the solution, but I do not agree with Loewen's bashing of revered people and institutions. The truth can be told without a pessimistic viewpoint. Isn't the point of history to learn from the past?

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This was a wonderful book to read. I want to go and research some of the items discussed in the book but it was very shocking to read about all the mistakes and misleading information in our textbooks. I plan to volunteer for our local textbook selection board or at least plan to make sure that I have some input to what my children learn in school.

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Summary: Designed to provke thought not DENIAL
Review: I bought this book on a whim. After reading it - ALL of it, I came here to see what America had to say about it. It seems that Mr. Loewen has done something right because some of you people sound really angry. Perhaps you should be angry at how we've been hoodwinked. Actually Loewen doesn't even reveal the tip of the iceberg. His book is an appetizer. It's a teaser. He wants you to get upset - upset enough to get the truth for yourselves and then help your children. This book, for anyone who really reads it, is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all and everything that ever happened in American History. The author says so right up front. It is, however, a book that should provoke the reader to realize that we've all been hoodwinked at some point in time and that we should be more careful than to simply accept what someone else tells us. Many readers seem to think that Loewen is bashing "upper class white males" but I don't think so. First off, as a Black professional, I have no need to protect white males; they have all the connections and advantages they need - I see it every day. And we all know it. He in fact points out, in an argument with himself, that many "upper class" folks are responsible for fostering,exposing and propagating the development of secondary sources which he says the textbooks claim to use. Mr. Loewen does, however, point out several other contributing factors to why history text books are inadequate including State Selection boards and so-called parental pressure, burnt-out teachers, ignorant teachers(some), the contemporary cultural temperatures,the desire to shield children from barbaric behavior of those who have been touted as heroes, and economic motives of the publishers to sell as many books across as wide a market as possible while offending the fewest folk. Just think how some of you have been offended just by reading his book. I wonder if some of you really read the book. One of the best things he does do is to offer a couple of suggestions on how teachers can get kids interested in history. Whether or not the reader is offended at Loewens exposing a few "choice" lies, it must be admitted that the reader will never take a history text book or History TV show at face value again. By the way, regardless as to whether you subjectively agree, those of you who actually care about historical objectivity and TRUTH will check out his primary bibliographical sources. The rest of you may just remain hoodwinked.

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: This book does a good job of demolishing a large amount of bogus history we have considered to be "common knowledge" over the years, howevever, it spends an indordinate time on native american and black history. If you are not interested in these aspects of American History, this book isn't for you.

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Summary: American history without the sugar-coating.
Review: Loewen's book describes the inadequacies and errors that plague American history textbooks commonly used in the our educational system. His basic premise is that these books were written from white, middle-class perspective of history and were designed to make us "feel good" about our past. These texts hide the overt racial prejudices of many famous historical figures. They gloss over, or fail to mention, various atrocities that America perpetrated on blacks and Native Americans. They fail to force students to ask questions about controversial issues in our recent past such as Vietnam and the civil rights movement - instead treating these issues superficially so as not to offend anyone.

Although we need more books like this, I have a few criticisms about Loewen's style and breadth of subjects. Although he is a competent writer, he tends to use a page worth of writing to make a point that could have been made in a couple of sentences. He also tends to repeat the same point over and over again to the point of becoming annoying. While the book contains some fascinating information, it was tedious to read.

Another criticism that I have is that the most of the book has one central theme: The injustices that surround America's (and the early explorers) treatment of African and Native Americans. While I was fascinated by this information, the title of the book, and the cover notes, implied that the book is much broader in scope. I was disappointed to find that more aspects of our history were not covered.

Another annoyance was that Loewen seemed to use the same tactics that he accuses history texts of. He tends to use select bits of information to support his thesis and not consider all interpretations of a incident. He summarily discounts positions contrary to his own, without providing evidence to support this stance.

Although I have some problems with this book I was impressed with it overall. This is a much-needed book and should be read by anyone that teaches or has an interest in American history. It is time for us to stop sugar-coating our past.

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Summary: Confirms What I Already Suspected
Review: I finished this book with the impression that every American history teacher and school board member should read this book. The book really has a simple structure. The first ten chapters tell what relevant historical facts are not being taught. The important question of why history is taught this way is answered in the eleventh chapter. The last chapter deals with the most important issue: how this kind of history education affects the students. These students are usually young people who grow up to become an active part of society. This is the most frightening thing about the problems discussed in the book because they will shape the country based on notions picked up in history class. What Loewen noticed about these books is that despite vast improvement over the past few decades, American History books still have a European-American slant and do not tell the truth or the whole truth about minorities. Other things the textbooks seemed to have in common was an unwillingness to confront students with important historical questions or to include anything that would reflect badly on America. Loewen points out that in attacking this "feel good" approach to history, he is not asking for a "feel bad" history which says nothing good about America. He simply wants a realistic teaching of history that has the good, the bad, and the ugly. The book is full of fascinating facts which I didn't know about the Indians, the Civil War, and some famous Americans.

This book confirms what I already suspected: that history has traditionally been taught from a Euro-centric perspective. What surprised me is that such problems still remain. The introduction of this book also points out that history can be interesting and very enjoyable and then the book serves as a wonderful example of that point.

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Summary: Loewen's truth is breathtaking
Review: You know surprisingly little about American history. Yes, you do. As a man of white european descent, I could easily have taken much of this book as offensive. I chose not to, and it made all the difference. I opened up my eyes and learned some very disturbing things about the history of this country. If you want to keep your eyes closed and hate people that you have been taught to hate, do not read this book. Loewen seems resigned, however, to the fact that the truth will not help as many people as it upsets. James, keep writing, that may not be the case.