Hardcover, 384 pages
English language
Published March 25, 2005 by New Press.
Since its first publication in 1995, Lies My Teacher Told Me has gone on to win an American Book Award, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, and to sell over half a million copies in its various editions. What started out as a survey of the twelve leading American history textbooks has ended up being what the San Francisco Chronicle calls "an extremely convincing plea for truth in education." In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen brings history alive in all its complexity and ambiguity. Beginning with pre-Columbian history and ranging over characters and events as diverse as Reconstruction, Helen Keller, the first Thanksgiving, and the Mai Lai massacre, Loewen offers an eye-opening critique of existing textbooks, and a wonderful retelling of American history as it should -- and could -- be taught to American students. - Publisher.
This book introduced me to so many facts about history that I hadn't realized.
It also opened my eyes to the history text book approval process and the pressures on and motivations of history text book authors, publishers, and teachers as well as legislators.
I learned so much about American history from this book, and unlearned so much misinformation about history! It's a lively, interesting read and I can't recommend it highly enough.
What ages would I recommend it too? – Twelve and up.
Length? – Several evening's read.
Characters? – Multiple characters.
Setting? – Historical, global.
Written approximately? – 1995.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – How many stories are there that he couldn't cover in this book? How much of history, like science, is a theory, and not a fact?
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? For students reading this book - what to do if you teacher doesn't want to learn the new facts - how to retain the correct information, and still pass the class of the teacher who won't learn.
Short storyline: Covers the finding of America, Thanksgiving, Racism, government, war, and the problem of recent history not being in the history books, and yet adults expecting children to remember events that happened before they were born.
Notes for …
What ages would I recommend it too? – Twelve and up.
Length? – Several evening's read.
Characters? – Multiple characters.
Setting? – Historical, global.
Written approximately? – 1995.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – How many stories are there that he couldn't cover in this book? How much of history, like science, is a theory, and not a fact?
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? For students reading this book - what to do if you teacher doesn't want to learn the new facts - how to retain the correct information, and still pass the class of the teacher who won't learn.
Short storyline: Covers the finding of America, Thanksgiving, Racism, government, war, and the problem of recent history not being in the history books, and yet adults expecting children to remember events that happened before they were born.
Notes for the reader: This author uses a lot of unusual terminology. In some cases, he seems to take the opposite side of an issue from what was commonly learned in history classes 20 or 30 years ago. Then, at the end of the chapter, seems to mellow and find a happy medium. A few chapters are common sense now - especially the ones on Christopher Columbus and Thanksgiving. Others can be a bit difficult to read, especially the racism ones.
Overall - it is a great book for opening the mind as to what knowledge is out there beyond the minimal coverage in the school books. Hopefully, it has a section that will help students, and adults alike discover the "truth" of the hidden histories of our planet through learning how to choose reliable resources, and recognizing unreliable resources.
This book was pretty amazing. The Lies My Teacher Told Me really opened my eyes to public education and fictionalized history. Through out school, history was my least favorite class. Constantly I was bored with the empty fact crunching. Now I know why, and feel invigorated to learn more.<br/><br/> I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Shout it from the rooftops!
