Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that:

• The United States dropped three times as many tons of explosives in Vietman as it dropped in all theaters of World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Ponce de Leon went to Florida mainly to capture Native Americans as slaves for Hispaniola, not to find the mythical fountain of youth

• Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in fact a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations
• The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia but Massachusetts

From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

In this revised edition, packed with updated material, Loewen explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated in today's climate and adds an eye-opening chapter on the lies surrounding 9/11 and the Iraq War. From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

Thought provoking, nonpartisan, and often shocking, Loewen unveils the real America in this iconoclastic classic beloved by high school teachers, history buffs, and enlightened citizens across the country.

James W. Loewen is professor of sociology at the University of Vermont. He is coauthor of the first integrated state-history textbook,

Mississippi: Conflict and Change, and creator of The Truth About Columbus: A Subversively True Poster Book for a Dubiously

Celebratory Occasion.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Something Has Gone Very Wrong

1 Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-making

2 1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus

5 The Truth about the First Thanksgiving

4 Red Eyes

5 "Gone with the Wind": The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks

6 John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks

7 The Land of Opportunity

8 Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government

9 Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of the Recent Past

10 Progress Is Our Most Important Product

11 Why Is History Taught Like This?

12 What Is the Result of Teaching History Like This?

Afterword: The Future Lies Ahead — and What to Do about Them

Notes

Appendix

Index