One of the best books ever written. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor at least fifty times while I read it. And then, dust it off. We have a dog who sheds a lot, you see.

Agreed, a stunning book. There needs to be an updated version. I'm really curious to know how US history classes handle the Lewisnky Affair and the Florida Recount, if they even cover them at all.

One of the things that struck me as odd when I was in high school was how we never really went much past World War II and even that was covered in the standard, Band of Brothers storyline of reluctant but heroic patriotic men doing their duty. Oh, and Rosie the Riveter, too.

You got the impression that history stopped after 1945 and nothing much was mentioned about the intervening 50 years (I graduated HS in 1995) because it was current events and so obviously, 17 year olds who might,at best, have a rudimentary grasp of current affairs offered to them in the newspaper and on the nightly news would be well-versed in the nuances of Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, etc.

And we wonder why most americans have no clue.

This assumes kids are actually paying attention in American History. Kinda hard to be influenced to have a rosy view of American government when all you do is cram for exams by memorizing places, dates and names, with the explicit desire to forget everything you ever learned the minute finals are over.

Of course, it continues into college, and not just History classes. I had an American Lit course about a decade ago, we were discussing political tracts written before and during the revolution. The instructor was trying to build up the story of American greatness when he asked, rhetorically, "And do you know why America defeated the British?"

I piped up with "French intervention?"

Will be interesting to see the POV of the upcoming John Adams series on HBO, vis a vis his monarchist tendencies, the Alien and Sedition acts, etc, etc. I expect a pretty whitewashed series, which is a shame, both for history and because some really fine actors are involved. Giamatti is playing Adams, Laura Linney - Abigail, Tom Wilkinson - Ben Franklin, etc.

The kids I know don't trust the government. Nobody with any sense should.

Erm, an updated version of Lies My Teacher Told Me was published last fall. Loewen reviewed six newer textbooks. The new edition doesn't, and isn't meant to, tell you everything that newer books have to say about Lewinsky, etc. But there is some very interesting new material.

From what I can tell from talking to college undergraduates, American history courses rarely get past World War II, just because there is so much to cover. As I remember, in my own high school days, we didn't get even that far. The result is, as Keith says, cramming endless facts for the exams, knowing that they'll be forgotten over the summer, but it isn't the kids' fault. Anyone who knows anything about schooling knows that rote memorization is not a good way of educating people, but most people seem to demand it anyway, apparently because it produces suffering or at least boredom, and school isn't supposed to be fun or interesting, and anyway, they suffered through it, so today's kids should suffer to. Learning just isn't on the agenda.

Loewen advocates not trying to cover all of American history in a school year, in favor of a "topics" approach. It isn't going to happen, of course. If high-school American-history classes tried to cover, say, Vietnam accurately, all hell would break loose, because most Americans don't want their kids learning about our country's history of aggression. Hell, Confederate apologists are still trying to rehabilitate the 1860 rebels/traitors against the Union, at any and all cost to historical accuracy. You don't think that *recent* history is going to be any less contested, do you?

But isn't high school history supposed to be boring? Sort of like when the traffic cop waves you past the bloody accident, "Nothin' to see here, just move along, folks."

oh brother, this guy seems like a boring version of that blowhard fool Howard Zinn. Lookit, Americans don't care about history, whether of the respectable and academicly sound sort, or tripe like you're peddling here. Why read crap written by political zealots when there are such fine hisotrians as C. Vann Woodward and Richard Pipes, to mention merely two exemplars of the crafts of solid scholarship and good writing?

Honestly, sheer ignorance is to be preferred to silly claptrap like that Lies book.

Oh and my new GF is a firecracker.

Honestly, sheer ignorance is to be preferred to silly claptrap like that Lies book.

you dont have to spell out the fact tthat you're ignorant, we kinda got that part already...

Got yourself a new blowup doll, did you, xyz? I'm happy for you, I'm sure we all are.

For what little it's worth, Lies My Teacher Told Me is not meant to be a replacement for history texts. Nor does Loewen put down professional historians like Woodward and Pipes. In fact, his central point is that history, as written by real historians, is much more interesting than the (often highly inaccurate) pap in high-school textbooks. He draws on the work of those professional historians to show where the textbooks get it wrong. But thanks for showing, once again, that you don't know what you're talking about; being such a blowhard will no doubt help when you're getting your new GF ready for, erm, action.

SteveB -- well yeah, that was what I said: "but most people seem to demand [rote memorization] anyway, apparently because it produces suffering or at least boredom, and school isn't supposed to be fun or interesting, and anyway, they suffered through it, so today's kids should suffer too. Learning just isn't on the agenda."

It's up to parents to teach children about American History.

God help us.

Well, anyway, that's what I plan to do. I remember how surprised and appalled I was when I began to learn actual American history - on my second go round in college. I had a very good African American professor who didn't try to paint a rosy picture. Just the facts.

And to be honest, if we told kids the sometimes ugly truth about America, it would make our history a lot more interesting to them. After all, who is invariably the most interesting character in any movie? The flawed character, if not the villain. People are bored silly by exemplars and paladins. We like thieves and scoundrels.

Oh, I get that he's critiquing HS texts, but as I understand from the snippets I've seen, he leans towards heavy breathing werkers konfronting Kapital and the rich soulful lives of dark skinned people are uplifting kind and Republics mean and bad skool of history as opposed to more serious scholarship.

Teaching recent history might result in Controversy . . .

"he leans towards heavy breathing werkers konfronting Kapital"

and your problem with that is what, exactly?

Oh, xyz wasn't joking!

Simbaud, thanks for the quotation.

I was in high school when I realized exactly how bad most of my history textbooks were. A detailed survey is useful stuff. I need to pick up the new edition of this book (especially since he's a fellow alum).

If there's a new edition, looks like I'd better run out to the bookstore....

xyz, "but as I understand from the snippets I've seen, he leans towards ... as opposed to more serious scholarship." Well, you misunderstand, then. Not that that's news. Perhaps you lean towards the Ayn Rand skool of heroic industrialists who do it all themselves except for the antlike hordes of the workers, with no dusky-skinned subhumans in sight?