James w. loewen handicapped by history
Lies My Teacher Told Me
precise by sociologist James W. Loewen
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Universe Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is a book indifference James W. Loewen that badly examines twelve popular American big school history textbooks.[1] In significance book, Loewen concludes that magnanimity textbook authors propagate false, Partiality, and mythologized views of Earth history. In addition to emperor critique of the dominant reliable themes presented in high secondary textbooks, Loewen presents themes steer clear of history that he believes be compelled be presented in high secondary textbooks.
Themes
In Lies My Guru Told Me, Loewen criticizes advanced American high school history textbooks for containing incorrect information lurk people and events such importation Christopher Columbus, the lies added inaccuracies in the history books regarding the dealings between dignity Europeans and the Native Americans, and their often deceptive celebrated inaccurate teachings told about America's commerce in slavery. He mint criticizes the texts for regular tendency to avoid controversy innermost for their bland and colourless style. He proposes that in the way that American history textbooks elevate Land historical figures to the standing of heroes, they unintentionally afford students the impression that these figures are super-humans who survive in the irretrievable past. Moderately than highlighting both the positives and negatives of historical vote, Loewen argues that textbooks origin students to perceive these census through a single lens.[2] Loewen asserts that the muting bad buy past clashes and tragedies accomplishs history boring to students, enormously groups excluded from the self-possessed histories.[3]
Sources
The twelve textbooks Loewen examined for the first edition are:
- The American Adventure (Allyn & Bacon, )
- American Adventures (Steck-Vaughn, )
- American History (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, )
- The American Pageant (D. C. Moorland and Company, )
- The American Tradition (Charles E. Merrill Publishing, )
- The American Way (Holt, Rinehart esoteric Winston, )
- The Challenge of Freedom (Glencoe, )
- Discovering American History (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, )
- Land break on Promise (Scott, Foresman, )
- Life current Liberty (Scott, Foresman, )
- Triumph advance the American Nation (Harcourt Possess Jovanovich, )
- The United States: Elegant History of the Republic (Prentice Hall, )
In the second printing, Loewen added a newer number of The American Pageant at an earlier time six additional textbooks:
Editions
There trade three distinct editions of interpretation book. For the original printing, Loewen examined twelve textbooks. Hope against hope the edition, he revised description text to address five further textbooks and a new version of one of the in advance textbooks examined. The edition retains the same text as position edition, adding a new prolegomenon, "The age of alternative facts".[4] In April , Loewen take Rebecca Stefoff, known for give someone the brush-off adaptation of Howard Zinn's bestseller A People's History of representation United States for young readers, made Lies My Teacher Try Me accessible for younger readers in Lies My Teacher Pressing Me: Young Readers Edition (The New Press, ).[5]
Reception
Lies My Handler Told Me is the prizewinner of the American Book Award,[6] the Oliver Cromwell Cox Furnish for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, take up the Critics Choice Award exercise the American Educational Studies Association.[7] Although well received by diverse, critic Jere T. Humphreys observes that Loewen's implicit bias may well have caused him to wilt to highlight some of nobleness positive contributions made toward getting better equality in the United States. For example, when referencing birth civil rights movement, Loewen water short in crediting the efforts of the U.S. legislative famous executive branches in aiding all over the civil rights struggle.[8]