Running head: Book Review-Lies My Teacher Told Me 1

Book Review-Lies My Teacher Told Me

Shannon Hopson
Baker College












Book Review 2

Book Review-Lies My Teacher Told Me
Nearly twenty years after its first publication, James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me
still holds important lessons about the history we teach in K-12 classrooms versus the history
that historians know to be true. His twelve chapter, plus introduction and afterword book,
reviews twelve American Textbooks with publishing dates between 1974 and 1991. His insight
into the "problem" with teaching history in American High Schools sets up a superb
methodology for more recent teaching methods. This includes, but is not limited to, stepping
outside the traditional textbook teaching method and encouraging students to think outside
the box that is their "boring" textbook.
Loewen hits hard right out of the gate. In his introduction, he cites studies that show
minorities score only slightly lower in mathematics than white students but significantly lower
than white students in history. Students across the board deemed "history the most irrelevant
of twenty-one subjects commonly taught in high-school" (Loewen, pg. 12). The author then
questions why students are so disenchanted with history as a subject in high school yet the
greater American population clearly shows an interest in history when it is offered in the form
of historical novels, movies, and even public television documentaries. His answer to this is
simple "textbooks seldom use the past to illuminate the present". They avoid controversy and
conflict and present history as a set of problems and facts that have "already been or are about
to be solved" (Loewen, pg.13). Though this may seem a dismal affair there is some redemption
in the fact that most college courses are taught with historical accuracy. There is interest in
student-lead research using primary and secondary resources rather than reading often
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outdated textbooks and regurgitating facts and dates for a test. The issue in this is that by the
time students reach college only one in six American students will take a college course in
American history (Humphreys, para.3).
The process of what Loewen calls heroification is introduced in chapter one. This
chapter highlights the life and times of Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson. Surely we all
remember Keller, a blind, deaf mute, who overcomes the adversity of her disability to live a full
life. The author observes that although students learn about her briefly, Keller's notoriety as a
radical socialist is ignored in all twelve textbooks. When reflecting on Wilson, he recalls how
several incidents in which Wilson's policies and procedures resulted in American conflicts with
Russia and Latin America are glossed over if they are mentioned at all. When "faced with
unpleasantries, textbooks wriggle to get the hero off the hook" (Loewen, pg. 24). Few texts
make any attempt at acknowledging Wilson's racial policies. Loewen does give
acknowledgment to the texts Land of Promise and The United States - A History of the Republic
for standing alone in their in-depth review of Wilson's policies (Loewen, pg.27).
Certainly a whole book could be dedicated to how we get the subject of Columbus
wrong. Loewen squeezes it into less than forty pages in chapter two. He observes that several
texts embellish stories of Columbus's first voyage to paint a more dramatic picture. However,
Columbus's own journals share a different story. The typical picture Americans adhere to is one
of Columbus coming from meager means, forging a relationship with the Spanish monarchy to
finance what turns into a treacherous two month voyage. Three tiny ships with crews
threatening mutiny land somewhere near North America and Columbus makes three more
voyages to the "New World" bringing riches to Spain, only to die a poor man (Loewen, pg.54).
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The more accurate picture is much different. In fact, many historians agree that much is still
unknown about Columbus. Loewen points out that textbooks leave out Columbus's
transgressions against Native people once he arrived. The texts also leave out information that
links other explorers to the Americas prior to Columbus. The author discuses the Eurocentric
writing of textbooks which leaves out the contributions of Asian, Arab, African, and Native
Americans to Europe and the development of the colonies. He suggests "we understand
Columbus and all European explorers and settlers more clearly if we treat 1492 as a meeting of
three cultures (Africa was soon involved), rather than discovery by one" (Loewen, pg. 61). This
theme is seen in new Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies.
Chapter three and four discuss the introduction of European settlers into North
America, both pre and post the supposed (by most Americans) 1620 founding of our nation.
Loewen reminds the reader that the Americas were settled long before the first British Colonies
of 1620. He points out the importance of disease transmittal in the settling of North America in
that by the time the pilgrims arrived as much as ninety percent or more of the Natives of the
coast had died from diseases brought by Europeans. Chapter three discusses the historically
documented first encounters of Native People and European settlers. The author discusses the
textbook "archetype of American Exceptionalism" (Humphreys, para.14) that paints Pilgrims
(who made up only about a quarter of the people on the Mayflower) in an all-too-positive light.
Chapter four moves into more in-depth discussion of the appearance of Native Peoples in the
textbook as savage group (singular) in need of civilization. Loewen maintains throughout the
chapter that although textbooks have delved into regional grouping of Native Americans, by in
large they are treated as one group with one type of religion and one culture. It is an archetype
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that remains static and hinders the learning process. In addition, it hinders relations between
Indian and non-Indian people today. The author offers that "if we knew the extent to which
Indian ideas have shaped American culture, the United States might recognize Native American
societies as cultural assets from which we could continue to learn" (Loewen, pg.136).
As we move into chapter five and six, the author posits that in a post civil rights
movement era slavery is more accurately portrayed. However he contends that textbooks are
ambiguous in their portrayal of important people such as presidents when it comes to
discussing slavery and race. He refers to the treatment of Jefferson in many textbooks.
"Textbooks stress that Jefferson was a humane master, privately tormented by slavery and
opposed to its expansion" (Loewen, pg. 147). The author contends that this statement is untrue
and that Jefferson had become an advocate for slave expansion and that out of hundreds of
slaves he owned, he only ever freed eight - all of which were blood relatives (Loewen, pg.150).
In contrast, chapter six discusses the invisibility of anti-racism. Loewen uses President Lincoln
and abolitionist John Brown as examples. He describes how John Brown has been portrayed as
insane to sane and back again throughout the centuries. He also argues that Lincoln's personal
growth and changing views on slavery are often left out, leaving only the President who freed
the slaves.
In Chapter seven, Loewen addresses class systems. He discusses how many textbooks
fail to address the idea that there is such a thing in the United States. "Not one book lists, upper
class, working class, or lower class" (Loewen, pg.202). He describes how students can see and
hear what is going on around them and although their textbooks don't address it, they know
there is a class system in the United States. The author also concludes that most students have
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no understanding about why or how their family ended up "well off" or not so. In an earlier
chapter, the author recalls a publisher's response to him in regards to this topic. "There are
three great taboos in textbook publishing....sex, religion, and social class" (Loewen, pg.34).
The next three chapters deal primarily in the textbooks ability to accurately portray The
United States Government in the past and in more recent times. He contends that textbooks
eliminate information that may portray the United States in a negative light. When discussing
negative images of the government such as the Bay of Pigs incident the texts "include, that our
actions were based on humanitarian motives" (Loewen, pg.227).
By chapter eleven and twelve, the author is ready to delve into why history is taught this
way and how "current" teaching methods fail to truly educate students. He discusses several
theories about upper class society controlling the publishing systems. He then debunks the
theories, concluding that in part large states who are purchasing the textbooks have some part
in what goes into them. "California and Texas, in particular, directly affect publishers and
textbooks because they are large markets with statewide adoption" (Loewen, pg.278). Smaller
states then choose from a set of texts that have been influenced by the larger states and
publishers. While these "class" theories are in part true Loewen only scratches the surface of a
much deeper problem in writing and teaching high school texts.
One can imagine that much has changed in the almost twenty years since this book was
published and it has. In the afterword, Loewen sets up a five question system that he contends
will allow for better instruction of history. Many of his questions can be seen reflected in the
Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies. Loewen guides us to ask; why was it
written, who and where is the writer, is the account believable, is it backed up by other sources,
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and what is the author trying to get the reader to feel or think?(Loewen,pg.317) In comparison,
Common Core Standards ask students to analyze and evaluate primary and secondary
resources using similar questions (English).
Controversy is interesting but how do you create a sense of national pride in young
Americans while still being honest about the country's history? A critique in The Public Interest
compares Loewens book to another similar interest book Molding the Good Citizen. Morton
Keller points out the answer to the aforementioned question is not answered in either book.
"The answer lies not in one side or the other winning but in an ongoing process of adjustment
and modification, in which historians , teachers, administrators, publishers, and the public have
their say" (Keller, para. 17). To put Loewen's account of history texts into perspective a critique
by Sandra Wong in Contemporary Sociology compares Loewen's book again to Molding the
Good Citizen. Both books, the writer states, "conclude that history textbooks are one-sided and
deeply flawed, the authors' interpretations of textbook material and their sense of what
constitutes valid knowledge are fundamentally different" (Wong, para.1). In her review, Wong
finds that Loewen's text sways toward critical theorist and multicultural educators while the
counterargument of Molding the Good Citizen sways toward the critics of the multicultural
approach. Whether conservative or progressive, one thing Loewen gets right is his interest in
allowing all students to have and enhanced and interesting experience of history. Lies My
Teacher Told Me can help the educator shift their focus from the textbook as the sole focus of
the course to one where the textbook is one tool used to enhance the learner's experience of
history.

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References

"English Language Arts Standards History/Social Studies Grade 11-12." Home. N.p., n.d.
Web. 27 July 2014. <http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/11-12/>.
Humphreys, Jere T.. "Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American
History Textbook Got Wrong." Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 15.1
(2003): 60+. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 July 2014.
Keller, Morton. "Lies My Teacher Told Me." The Public Interest 0.124 (1996): 108. Academic
OneFile. Web. 27 July 2014.
Loewen, James W.. Lies my teacher told me: everything your American history textbook got
wrong. New York: New Press :, 1995. Print.
Wong, Sandra L. "Life course: Stage and institutions- Molding the Good Citizen by Robert
Lerner, Althea K Nagai and Stanley Rothman/ Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything
Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen." Contemporary
Sociology 25.2 (1996): 233. ProQuest Business Collection. Web. 15 July 2014.