Lies and American History

I love books that not only expand what I know but also challenge what I believe. Lies My Teacher Told Me does just that. I suspect my political and economical views differ greatly with the author’s, but in this great book, James W. Loewen presents a case against the textbooks currently used in our high schools that goes far beyond ideology.

As I discuss in this blog frequently, people tend to believe in what is convenient, not what is true. Well, as someone formally trained as a high school history teacher, I have to admit it seems we also teach that way as well.

Our collective-minded education system presents American history to our children as a mindless series of over-simplified white-washed myths conveniently excluding any information that seemingly denigrates or contradicts the larger-than-life propaganda that textbooks tend to perpetuate.

Amongst many other valid observations, Loewen explains that by presenting American history as a series of endlessly boring preordained facts, students don’t see the conflict of ideas, the evolution of thought or the alternatives that could have come into being.

For instance, one example the author uses is the treatment of Columbus. Columbus did not “discover” America. Obviously, Native Americans were here first, but evidence also points to the likelihood that Asians, Norse, Phoenicians and even West Africans set foot in the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus arrived. The author goes beyond pointing out the obvious ethnocentric influence of our education system. The notion that the “winners” write the history, after all, is nothing new.

Also contrary to popular myth, Columbus was not an altruist voyager looking to discover new worlds for the betterment of mankind. He was driven by the same thing we all are. He sought greater wealth. His search for gold made him an intolerant racist tyrant and he used his religious piety to justify raping, murdering and enslaving thousands of Native Americans.

The author points out that these facts do not condemn Columbus in their own-right. He was not the “original” slave-trader, after all. What complicates the story is that Native American and African cultures were already dealing in slaves themselves. Like all of us, Columbus was a product of the times he lived in. Rather than hero-ize him or vilify him, he should be presented with all the facts, allowing student to see him for who he really was, accomplishments, warts and all. Students -- and you and I -- should be allowed to make and discuss our own conclusions.

This is the whole point. History is complicated. It is not as clean and politically correct as our indoctrination machines would like it to be. While simplifying it and “cleaning” it up may be easier than dealing with it honestly, unfortunately, for most high school students this also makes it instinctively untrustworthy and unchallenging as well.

My main qualm with the book is it’s sub-title: “Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”. While the premise of the book is right on, the book contains “examples” of inaccuracies. “Everything” would require an encyclopedia-sized collection of volumes in order to even begin scratching the surface. And although some readers may have problems with the author’s obvious liberal-bent, the facts he presents are undeniably eye-opening and discussion-worthy regardless of one’s own perspective.

This book provides a great starting point for a discussion of what and how we teach and learn American history.