Everything your American history textbook got wrong Essay

During my close of time that I had to read this very persuasive book into believe that youre casual every day period of History menage is basic t start ensembley nonhing tho a waste of time if non taught in the correct context. Which would embarrass the good, the bad, and the all told in between of the adequate to(p) of that person or situation in taradiddle that would be in-chief(postnominal) enough for generations to come to know and remember just about in all its entirety. This book similarly includes how Americans have lost their touch with their news report, and in this thought-stimulating book, crowd together Loewen shows just wherefore. After surveying twelve leading risque check American history texts, he has concluded that not one of them does a decent or even good enough job of making history interesting or memorable. Flawed by an embarrassing confederacy of blind patriotism, mindless hopefulness, upright misinformation, and outright lies, these books leav e out close all the uncertainty, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that Surely textbooks should include some people based on not only what they achieved but also on the distance they traversed to achieve it, as compose in page 9 of chapter 1.Also in chapter one mainly in page 17, Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in feature a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations. James also had written that Woodrow Wilsons administration was openly hostile to black people.. Wilson was not only anti-black. To the history in chapter 4 page 116, about the trueness of native Americans, Six of the twelve histories I studies avoid this clich of Indian naitives about priming ownershipseveral of them even point out that the conundrum lay in whites not abiding by accepting concepts of land ownership. From the truth about Columbuss historical voyages to an honest valuation of our national leaders in chapter 8 page 230, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses. In the book, Loewen covers faulty heroic personification of false heroes vs. the big(p) worth of Americas objective heroes the need to reference primeval sources our countrys forward moving belief which tends to ignore historical foreshadowing the importance of students to think for themselves and question important events in history and the ruin that the textbook industry has turned into.As you can see, at that place is a lot covered here, and this isnt any of the lies. As I said, there is a lot explained in this book about why each historic lie was established. There is a point in the book where Loewen refers to a passage from 1984. In 1984, George Orwell says, he who controls the present controls the past. When Loewen refers to this quote, he is referring to the upper class and whites controlling the educational system and textbo ok publishing. I believe there couldve been a better use for this quote. While it may be true that most history textbooks bend or return shade history in favor of the upper class or whites, I am deciding to use this particular quote in another fashion. Who controls the present controls the past. That, my friends, should be a charge a burster directed at all those in the history teaching profession. espouse control of the knowledge dispersed in your classrooms (the present) and teach the correct past. toss away the provided textbooks (not truely ofcourse) and teach what you know should be taught. Allow yourself to step out of your teaching comfort zone. I have a teacher (not exit to say anyones name) that likes to grill his students to push their knowledge on all that pertaining to the subject that we speak on, that teacher was never afraid to put his screw out to stir up discussion in the classroom. Worst upshot scenario, a question would arise that the teacher did not know the process to and he would simply say, I will look into it. He wasnt afraid to show he wasnt all-knowing. Loewens book has a great underlying theme that children should be taught that history is not restricted, and that possibilities should be discussed to further rational skills and to promote an understanding of our nations history. precisely I wish he had gone the extra step and challenged history teachers. I would recommend this book to anyone who like to read history and more(prenominal) on going in dept. While an appreciation for history would sure enough make this book more enjoyable, it is an optional read either way. For factual this book criticizes the way history is presented in current textbooks, and suggests a clean and more accurate approach to teaching American history. This is a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks they knowledgeable about U.S. history in high school. Loewen spent 11 years reviewing the 12 most commonly-used U.S. history textbooks and found a ll to be well(p)ly wanting. Textbook publishers want to avoid controversy (so, app arntly, do some(prenominal) school systems), so they feed students a white-washed, non- controversial, over-simplified version of this countrys history and its most important historical parts.To make his point, Loewen emphasizes the dark case of U.S. history, because thats the part thats missing from our education system. So, for example, we never learned that Woodrow Wilson ran one of the most antiblack administrations in history and helped to set clog up progress in race relations that had begun after the Civil War. Helen Kellers socialist leanings and political views are over-looked and we only learn that she overcame blindness and deafness. toilet Brown is portrayed as a wild-eyed nut who ran demoniacal until he was caught and hanged, rather than an eloquent and dedicated abolitionist who uttered more a(prenominal) of the same words and thoughts that Lincoln later expressed. Loewens book vividly illustrates the maxim that those who do not learn from history are ill-omened to repeat it. Ignorance of our real history also renders us incapable of amply understanding the present and coming to grips with the issues of our time.For example, from the Civil War until around 1890, real racial progress was underway in the United States and civil rights laws were federally enforced in the South. The military was integrated and former slaves had the right to vote, service on juries and as witnesses in trials, own property and operate businesses. They also received mandatory public education, which was automatically extended to white children for the foremost time in the south. But, between 1890 and 1920, the Feds little by little disengaged and allowed southern racist governments to solecism these rights from blacks and relegate them to virtual non-citizenship. Only within the last half-century has that policy been gradually reversed, again through Federal intervention. T his history casts current racial attitudes and issues in a different light than most of our high school students are likely to see unless they are taught the complete history of their country.It is clear that Loewen is not out to bash the United States or offer up an as one-sided, negative version of its history. He gives a balanced account of many of the figures whose weaknesses he exposes. Thus, we learn that, although Columbus was an unimaginative fortune hunter, a racist tyrant and slave trader, he (and Spain) were not much different than most people at the time. He points out that all societies, including Native Americans and Africans, unplowed slaves and that it is unfair to single out Columbus as singularly evil. The business is that kids never learn both sides of these stories, so history becomes a unconditional repetition of non-opposing events that appear to have or had no vague causes. historical events are not related to issues that people disputed or serious conflict s that placed them at irreversible odds with one another, the very sate that drives history. No wonder kids are bored and uninterested. They are left with the kinky impression that, down deep, the United States always means well and, in the end, is always right. Loewen has presented fair accounts of key events in our history and indicated why our high school students know and care so little about it. He also suggests ways to correct this serious shortcoming that every American should give a round of applause to.