Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Critical Book Review

Introduction and Overview

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James Loewen, is one author's attempt to get to the bottom of American history. In the book he begins with the heroification of Americans, traces American history through the ages, and then tries to account for the reasons American history education has reached its current low point. Although appearing very left-wing in his approach, and clearly trying to make a point through his examples, Loewen offers great insight into not only the faults in American history education but the truths about American history itself. He presents only one side; however, it could be argued that he only needs to present one side because the other side has been ingrained in our consciences since our first days in history class as children. Often vague in his identification of the "system" that has shaped American perception of its historical past, he does back up his investigation into U.S. history textbooks with substantial factual evidence. In Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen is successful in presenting the side of American history that teachers do not teach children in school.

Author Background and Bias

James Loewen is a highly educated historian and sociologist with a Harvard Ph.D. He has taught race relations in the United States at institutions of higher learning. According to his official website, he is the author of a wide range of books that seek to uncover the truth behind America's past, including Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Got Wrong, as well as audio recordings on the falsehood of many prominent American historical beliefs (Homepage of James Loewen). Although his official site maintains that he uncovers these falsehoods through unbiased research, the very nature of his work indicates that he must carry some form of agenda. All of his prominent works, at least in his most recent years, deal with disproving widely held beliefs about the United States — as if he is committed to exposing a perpetuation of lies regarding American history. There very well may be truth that needs to be uncovered, but Loewen is nonetheless biased in his attempts to do so. His website states that his goal is "to get students to challenge, rather than memorize, their textbooks" (Homepage of James Loewen), which confirms that he does have an agenda in his works. That agenda may be justified — promoting independent thought in the classroom is certainly a beneficial approach to the study of history — but it must be kept in mind when reading his work.

Furthermore, an incident from his past greatly influenced the stance he now takes against history textbooks. While studying race relations in the South, he co-authored a textbook on the history of Mississippi called Conflict and Change, which was critically well received (Homepage of James Loewen). Yet the book was rejected by Mississippi schools for being too controversial, and Loewen took his case to U.S. Federal Court, winning a landmark First Amendment ruling in 1980 in Loewen v. Turnipseed (Homepage of James Loewen). This episode reveals the origins of his dislike of American history textbooks: he had firsthand experience with the rejection of an open and honest text that he co-authored. Naturally, before he began the evaluation of American history textbooks that culminated in Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen had already formed a perspective. He was determined to prove that the textbooks did not reveal the entire truth.

Central Themes of the Book

James Loewen wrote Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong to point out all the discrepancies in American textbooks and to expose the truth in American history. The title itself is provocative, and Loewen does not hold back his feelings about American textbooks. He evaluates a dozen textbooks and compares them to historical fact, pointing out well-researched details — such as how textbooks use selective paraphrasing to craft a particular image of historical figures. One example is how Lincoln is frequently presented as someone who, if he "could save the Union without freeing any slave," he would (Loewen 181). This paraphrasing ignores the remainder of that particular letter as well as broader historical truths. Loewen does not merely debunk individual facts; he also challenges perceived generalities about America, such as the notions of progress and America as a land of opportunity. As he puts it: "Ten chapters have shown that textbooks supply irrelevant and even erroneous details, while omitting pivotal questions and facts in their treatment of issues" (273). To Loewen, American textbooks have a great deal wrong, and they consistently refuse to engage with controversy in American history.

One theme Loewen addresses is the notion that American history textbooks shift their interpretation to fit the mold cast by political correctness. Columbus, for example, goes from legendary hero and discoverer of the Americas to a perpetrator of violence. Early textbooks called Columbus's "1492 voyage 'a miracle'" (Loewen 302), but over the years his depiction shifted — even though history itself did not. This is because textbooks are not primarily driven by historical accuracy; they rely on public pressure, sales, and the approval of adoption committees. Loewen notes that certain states "used to pressure publishers overtly to espouse certain points of view" (Loewen 280), and numerous examples throughout the book illustrate this dynamic as a central theme.

Another key theme is Loewen's argument that history should be interpreted rather than dictated by a single authoritative source. Primary sources should serve as teaching tools, allowing students to form their own judgments about United States history. Loewen himself relies heavily on primary sources throughout the book. He contends that textbooks present students with a version of history that forecloses independent interpretation — a pre-determined history shaped by forces other than those that actually enact change. As a result, students who learn American history solely from textbooks, according to Loewen, lack the skills necessary to connect history to the present day. The textbooks offer a closed and surprisingly uniform view of the past, and this approach has led to the reality "that students successfully resist learning American history" (Loewen 300). Regurgitation of textbook content, he argues, is not how history should be taught.