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It is marvelous - complete, stark, and true.The writing style is wonderful too. Zinn's excellent book not as interesting. This book really opened my eyes to how history is written. I read Howard Zinn's book after this one, and I have to say that this book made Mr. If you are interested in history and what you learned (or didn't learn) in school, you should read this book. It is written by the victors, which is why there are so many inaccuracies in our history. (Except when it's written by committee, which is what is unfortunately happening now in a lot of school districts).
Reading this book opens your eyes and makes for better citizens. Every American should read this book to truly understand the birth and continued development of the USA.
=) I received excellent service. My book arrived in a timely fashion and in pristine condition.
From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 37-74) to an honest assessment of our national leaders - such as Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 21), Loewen revisits our history, restoring the verve and relevance it truly deserves (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 286-291). Loewen argues historical myths (not to mention outright errors) continue to be perpetuated in today's overwhelmed teaching scenario Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me 52, 204, 277, 291, 299, 314-316, and 371-375).
I would argue, especially Chapter 11 - Why Is History Taught Like This. Thought provoking, unbiased, and often controversial, Loewen exposes the real America in this subversive yet utterly patriotic classic.
According to James Loewen, Americans have lost a sense of perspective vis-à-vis our history and in Lies My Teacher Told Me he attempts to explain why (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 11-17). The problem, according to Loewen is systemic Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me 271-297 and 312-318).
(Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 271-297) is necessary read for teachers, historians, and citizens. After completing a read of eighteen leading high school American history texts, his assessment is that all have failed to make history interesting, much less relevant, to high school students (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 21).
Saddled with a mixture of bland patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies; according to Loewen, all the books surveyed leave out almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past - and they fail to ask students questions that they can come with answers to themselves Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me 18-36).
One example: we all know ( from many school history books) that Columbus was not the first explorer to discover America ( the name of our continent should prove that - are continent is not named Columbus). Their argument is just based on their non-objective views. Yet this author prefers to go into a long list of explorers ranting about not getting credit for it's discovery, and the only proof he offers are other books written by other book selling want to be's. The substance of this book is all crap - the typical liberal view of history. Writers like this never see that they use the same argumemts that the orignal history books in school use.
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