James W. Loewen, a sociologist, spent two years at the Smithsonian studying 12 textbooks widely used throughout the US, resulting in this, his best-known book. He concluded not one textbook does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. A new 2005 Preface updates the book but not his conclusion.

The 12 textbooks (averaging about 900 pp) are listed in the Appendix. After his brief Introduction (Something Has Gone Very Wrong), he discusses the “lies” (distortions, crucial omissions, and/or outright lies) in 12 chapters. Each chapter has thorough notes, totaling 54 pages. For Ch 1-10 I give the title and a one-sentence quote or comment. Ch 1 is Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-making – by “this process our educational media turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, credibility, or human interest.” Ch 2 is 1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus – “they leave out virtually everything that is important to know about Columbus and European exploration of America” – slavery and genocide to exploit the New World. Ch 3 is The Truth about the First Thanksgiving. The first settlers – the Indians – taught the ill-prepared newcomers what to grow and how to survive. Ch 4 is Red Eyes. “Historically, American Indians have been the most lied-about subset of our population.” Ch 5 is “Gone with the Wind”: The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks (invisible in textbooks, but not in true history). Ch 6 is John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks (again, invisible in high-school textbooks, but not in real history). Ch 7 is The Land of Opportunity (much opportunity for white northern Europeans, but much less for nearly all other ethnic groups, especially the non-white). Ch 8 is Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government – the main sin here is to focus on the executive branch and treat it as if “the state we live in today is the same state created in 1789”. Ch 9 is Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of the Recent Past (don’t dare teach that for which there are still living folks to tell what it was like for them). Ch 10 is Progress is our Most Important Product (teach that our country was meant to be the greatest and that our steady progress will make our future much greater for all Americans).

James W. Loewen gives an excellent summary in Ch 11 – Why is History Taught Like This? It begins with “Ten chapters have shown that textbooks supply irrelevant and even erroneous details, while omitting pivotal questions and facts in their treatments of issues ranging from Columbus’s second voyage to the possibility of impending genocide. We have also seen that history textbooks offer students no practice in applying their understanding of the past to present concerns, hence no basis for thinking rationally about anything in the future. Reality gets lost as authors stray further and further from the primary sources and even the secondary literature. Textbooks rarely present the various sides of historical controversies and almost never reveal to students the evidence on which each side bases its position. The textbooks are unscholarly in other ways. Of the twelve I studied, only inquiry textbooks contain any footnotes. Six of the textbooks even deny students a bibliography.” One answer as to why high-school American history textbooks are the way they are is the influence of powerful local groups. For example, in 1925 the American Legion declaimed that the ideal textbook:

• must inspire the children with patriotism,
• must be careful to tell the truth optimistically,
• must dwell on failure only for its value as a moral lesson, must speak chiefly of success,
• must give each State and Section full space and value for the achievements of each.

Loewen didn’t comment on this distortion of patriotism (insist on a country’s values) into nationalism (to hype a country’s self-image). Textbook authors have felt great pressure and have yielded to the pressure from various groups, as Loewen made quite clear throughout this book.

Ch 12 is What is the Result of Teaching History Like This? In short, students hate such boring and “whitewashed” history classes, which they correctly perceive as lacking both interest and credibility. The result is that they simply study for the test, using short-term memory, and retain little about history. He has found that students come to college at best essentially ignorant about American history, and at worse retaining distortions rather than reality. His Afterword is The Future Lies Ahead – and What to Do about Them? This brief (6 pp) section has too many suggestions to summarize here, but I found all of them to be good or great. But fist one must admit to the reality of the following: “The portrait of lying painted in the last two chapters as a vertically integrated industry, including textbook boards, publishers, authors, teachers, students, and the public, may appear bleak. It follows however, that intervention can occur at any point in the cycle.” The last four pages spell out how he sees crucial changes coming about. Although this book informs the reader of the bad things about how American history was, and still is, being wrongly taught in our high schools, I agree with those who told me I must read this book – it is crucial for Americans to do what it takes to give our children a proper understanding of our history. Thus I see this book as a must-read book. I felt Loewen accomplished a great deal and has done it very well in just over 300 pages. I highly recommend it to one and all.