Book Review
James W. Loewen is a history teacher. He has also written a textbook and his skills as a researcher are high, many notes supplement his text. His book Lies My Teacher Told Me is a history book that includes historical facts that have not been included in regular school textbooks. Loewen has a very friendly way of writing that makes a person want to continue to read the book from the beginning to the end. He takes historical topics that are very familiar and explains how the reality of the history is different than what has been taught as history. He discusses the research he has done and references his sources. He also shares conversations he has had with students about different historical topics to find out what they have (or have not) learned in school. Each chapter discusses different historical myths. He discusses Gone with the Wind the book and the movie as an example of “invisible racism.” Each chapter has a topic that seems familiar but he adds facts from his research to fill out the history that the reader does not know.
Chapter One is about “heroification;” Loewen calls it a “degenerative process” so right away the reader is taken off guard (19). Making someone into a hero is usually thought of as been a positive process. From the very first sentence of the first chapter the author clearly has a new point of view. Helen Keller is one of the examples that Loewen offers to
prove his point that American heroes are very distant from people even though they are highly admired. Helen Keller was an “a radical socialist” activist for most of her life (20). His point is that the more a hero is adored the less is known about the hero’s real life story.
The unknown history of Christopher Columbus has been discussed. The relationship between the colonists and the North American Indians was one of master and slaves. Loewen explains that encomienda system Columbus advocated which “caused incredible depopulation. On Haiti the colonists made the Indians mine gold for them, raise Spanish foof, and even carry them everywhere they went” (63). This led to depopulation because the Indians killed themselves and Indian women stopped giving birth because the life was so terrible. The Spaniard Bartolomé de Las Casas at one time was a plantation owner but them became an anti-slavery priest who called for treating the Indians well (68).
Loewen describes the myth of the First Thanksgiving as compared to the historical roots of Thanksgiving. The people living in New England before the colonist arrived had a tradition of celebrating after the harvest; in other words the Indians introduced the Pilgrims to Thanksgiving not the other way around. The author concludes that if the historical reality was taught about Thanksgiving it would be a good chance for Americans to think about how holiday traditions started. He suggests that knowing the facts could help Americans be more accepting of others and the traditions of other cultures.
“Red eyes” is the title of Chapter Four and also a term from the past. Loewen suggests that once history is learned from the point of view of the indigenous tribes “. . . We are going to get Red Eyes” (95). ‘Red Eyes’ is a positive term about understanding the point of view of
Indians. The Native Americans were said to have red skin and people who could understand their ways were call ‘Red Eyes;’ they were able to see the ‘red skins’ way of life with some compassion.
The author’s discussion on racism is very interesting because he describes racism as being invisible. His concern is that textbooks make the racism of the past invisible which only makes the present day racism more difficult to see. When a problem remains invisible than it is impossible to correct “They obstruct our already poor ability to see (racism) in the present” (171). In some ways the new settlers brought positive changes to the tribes such as when Indians were given horses. In many other ways the effect was negative to such a degree the native way of living (as The First Nations) was gone forever. Although Europeans found the land inhabited and were taught how to survive in the new land by the occupants; not enough whites showed their appreciation. Europeans encouraged the natives to change their lifestyles, for example, to start trading in furs and slavery (103). The agriculture lifestyle was influenced a lot by the settlers and mostly in bad ways. Loewen hypothesizes that textbook publishers do not want to add anything into history textbooks that does not reflect positively on the Founders or other important leaders of the USA.
The title of Chapter Six is “John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism” In the previous chapter he discussed the invisibility of racism; so it does make sense that if racism is invisible than antiracism must be invisible, too. The Civil War was fought by the Union to stop slavery but somehow the discussion of anti racist and anti slavery
heroics and heroes are not very common in history textbooks. In this chapter Loewen brings up topics that are very controversial and should lead to a lot of good discussions between
people reading the book. He suggests that both Nat Turner and John Brown are heroes and he supports his argument with sources from their contemporaries. In order to set up a thought-provoking way to look at the topic; he asks the reader to think about why Nat Turner’s actions are generally found to be more acceptable than John Brown’s. John Brown has not been known as an anti-racist in history so much as he is known as a religious extremist (178).
America as ‘The Land of Opportunity’ is addressed in Chapter Seven. Loewen points out here that although great opportunities do exist in America they don’t exist for everyone. He strongly recommends that students be taught about the consequences of inequality and class differences. Plus the history of how the class divide in health care, education and quality of life has played out in history is important to understanding the important players now. For example social mobility is a problem that has been around since colonial times. Now with the economic crisis it seems more important than ever to learn how economics work to shrink the middle class and why more homeless people seem to be on the streets every day. It would be useful to know how soup kitchens in the 1030s were different or similar to the same phenomena today. Labor unions have contributed a lot to the quality of life of people yet they are given very little if any time in history textbooks. Knowing the battles workers had to fight to get safe workplace conditions is important to learn about. Learning about how rights were gained over the years can help students learn how real life works and how to make changes in their own lives. “The idea that (labor unions) might be necessary for workers to have a voice in the workforce goes unstated” in textbooks Loewen discovered (206).
The chapter about the Federal Government takes on foreign policy. The way that history is misrepresented in textbooks leads Americans to make unwise decisions. Iran is in the news a lot and that is an example that Loewen uses to point out the difference between fact and fiction. “Iranians used the nonviolent methods borrowed from Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr. to overthrow the hated Shah” (203). Unfortunately instead of siding with the people of Iran the United State’s federal government was a supporter the Shah and helped the Shah return to power in 1953 after getting rid of the democratically elected Prime Minister. (227-228) Loewen is not talking about small details that make very little difference in the way history impacts modern lives. The topics make a difference in how students will vote and in making life decisions such as joining the military.
Chapter 10 shares information on how little information there is about the Viet Nam War in the majority of textbooks. That seems very unusual to Loewen especially since so many teachers and professors remember that time. A teacher does not have to teach a topic like the Viet Nam War by agreeing or disagreeing. There are many primary sources that can be used to teach the Viet Nam War and other controversial historical issues. One of the points made is that students need information from the recent past so they can understand the impact of the recent past on today’s current events.
Something that Loewen has brought up at the beginning of the book, he discusses more in Chapter 11: history textbooks have a big problem of being boring. They even end on
a boring note “The lack of intellectual excitement in these books is most pronounced at their
ends. All is well, the authors soothe us . . .” at the end of the textbooks (282). Loewen warns us that this type of non-informational history should be a warning to us that “a social archetype lurks nearby” and progress is that archetype (282). There is also the problem that textbook author’s grew up during a time when ‘making progress’ was America’s motto. Considering for example the environmental problems faced today, measuring the county’s success by progress is no longer an appropriate measure. He argues that it is better to prepare students for the future than continue on the old-fashioned path of more is better. They could be learning how to face the future challenges.
There are several theories as to why history is taught the way it is taught with textbooks so carefully written that most say little about America’s history. Jonathan Kozol for example is part of the group of critical theorist who is an authority on how children are treated and taught in the poorest schools. A critical theorist can be said to understand from history that government enables keeping poor people less educated in order to keep the status
quo of class inequality. Sociologists have researched learning and found that socialization and allegiance are learned in American schools too. Loewen says that “Allegiance and socialization, however, are intrinsic to the role of schooling in our society or any hierarchical society” (306).
The results of teaching history from textbooks that avoid controversy makes students unable to discuss controversial issues. Loewen claims that “The effects of using standard American history textbooks . . . actually make students stupid” (9). What could be an interesting and exciting subject is taught in a boring way. Students don’t learn a lot of the important information they need to become actively engaged citizens.
Loewen has written a serious book using a lot of humor and it is not boring. He raises many interesting questions and has a way of making readers think about whether what they have learned makes common sense or whether something has been left out. He then fills in some very important gaps in history education. His overall thesis is that when the facts of history are learned, the problems surrounding the culture today will be easier to understand. In turn that will make discussions about the problems easier and then hopefully resolving some of the most difficult challenges like racism can be possible. This is a thought provoking book.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York, NY: Touchstone. 1995. Print.
