Despite the witty title, this isn't going to be a comic piece. Lies my Teacher Told Me is actually a book. I'm about 80% of the way through it and I just wanted to share it. The main purpose of this non-fiction title is talk to the reader about common misconceptions taught in high school history and the impact those misconceptions can then have on society. Ever wonder why there seem to be so many idiots out there? Well most of them are taught to be that way.
James Loewen (the author) reviews 12 of the most popular history texts and then proceeds to tell you the "real" story from the primary historical references. He also explains why the misconceptions have held up even when factually they are completely wrong. You might think reading a history book of any sort is dull, but this work is very well written, fun and engaging.
Loewen writes about Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson, Columbus, the Native Americans and even current history like Vietnam and the 90's. It's full of facinating facts you never heard about in your history class. While most folks would know who Helen Keller is, few would be able to tell you that she devoted her life afterwards to supporting communist parties and ideals. Initially she set out to fight blindness and disability, but quickly discovered that most people who suffered from disabilities were from poor economic classes. So a key component to solving the problem was to improve the economic standing of lower classes (in America). American textbooks won't discuss the class system that exists in the US. So history books just leave it out. In fact, history books leave out a shocking amount.
There are many key events in history that have set the stage for the USA to be unpopular in the world. The reasons for these events are not random... people don't just decide to not like Americans. We've done amazingly stupid things in other countries that we conveniently "forget" by not teaching it. The new generation then blindly walks in the world thinking that "we're okay!" Despite how you might feel about the politics of war, economics or foreign policy, you still have to teach what happened and give some theories about why. Else each generation will continue to bumble along making the same mistakes or coming up with inappropriate solutions to the wrong problems.
It's easy to tell where Loewen's biases are. He clearly states his opinions, but also sights the desenting views to give the reader something to really chew on. The purpose of the book isn't to sway you to his line of thinking, but simply to get you thinking!
I have found the book facinating because it explains so much about why the really big things happened. The Civil Rights movement, for example, just didn't pop up because of the Civil War. There was a time when Reconstruction was working and black peoples were being integrated in to society, but the advent of Wilson's presidency brought in a sweeping racist change. Wilson eliminated nearly all black people from political offices, implemented segregation and was intensely racist himself! That set the stage for what would eventually become the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's. It didn't just "happen". Further, it wasn't just resolved by the government. Even the revered John Kennedy wouldn't take the movement seriously. JFK was against equal rights for blacks. It was only when white people started to die that the nation took the issue seriously. The people of this nation practically had to force the government to take action. But if you read your textbooks you get the impression that the US government recognized the issue of racism and fixed the problem.
This one fact alone scare the be-jebus out of me. Millions of students are being taught that the government "does the right thing" on it's own. So they then don't have to worry about it or be involved.
Anyways... It's a good book with a lot of eye-opening facts about history. If you have children, you definitely need to read it. Be prepared to tell your kids that sometimes what they learn in school isn't always exactly the way it is. Let's raise some thinkers! We're going to need them.
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