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Lies My Teacher Told Me Book Review
Izenet Renteria 28 April 2016Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything  Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: The New Press, 2007.From everything we were taught on history in high school, have you ever wondered if the books students read were telling the truth? The book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen enlightens some of American history. Loewen makes a case on how the history textbooks used in high school are teaching the wrong facts. Professor Loewen, who’s written five other books and is an expert in race relations, begins “Lies my Teacher Told Me” with a clear-cut claim: “High school students hate history” (1). Using 18 history textbooks, Loewen highlights obtrusive omissions from the texts. The events Loewen describes are what he calls the “Disney version of history” and those are the versions that school have always taught. All while the actual history stories are much more interesting rather than their biased presentation in classrooms.Loewen explains how students consider history irrelevant, because it is boring to them. Loewen believes that textbooks present a confusing collection of information, and at the same text books present the stories with specific, straightforward facts that encourage patriotism..  Loewen argues that by doing so it diminishes history to ‘a gray emotional landscape of devoted duty rather than a spectacular collaboration of all the events in history. Loewen uses different events as examples to open reader’s eyes to the actual truth of history. One of the major keys is that history books not only omit valuable suspenseful information that makes history interesting, but the lies told are sought out to make American history tremendously positive, which in actually is a problem. Loewen examined high school history textbooks, and every problem, conflict or issue in America’s history has came down to some problems existing, but in the end Americans always overcome.One of Loewen chapters focuses on President Woodrow Wilson and the lies told in history books. President Wilson is remembered for the effort he made to bring together the world in a League of Nations that followed America’s entry into World War I. For instance, Textbooks may (but don’t) describe Wilson’s Latin American actions a “Bad Neighbor Policy” (24). Instead the texts find ways to let the hero off the hook. Although in the books it seems certain that Loewen did not cause the invasions, it is extremely vague as to who did. Loewen explains how many history books are vague with details that could cause America or Americans to look not so much like heroes. By doing so, students fail to actually learn the truth about their own history and continue to believe that in American history nothing wrong was ever done.

Loewen goes into the Vietnam War and how the history event is attenuated in text books. Vietnam War itself is a complex issue and Loewen explains how most texts attempt to quell the anger of those who chose to remember only the bright side of the war. Loewen exposes some facts on how more bombs were dropped by the military in Vietnam than in all theaters of WW II put together, which demonstrated the way authors ignore conflicts that dull Americas image. History books use non-confrontational images, which fail to capture a student’s attention. Loewen also mentions how almost twenty-five percent of students believe the Vietnam War was fought between South and North Korea, exposing a deep discrepancy in educational systems.Loewen continues to talk about how students lack so much knowledge in facts and aspects that give history a different view. Loewen uses Helen Keller as an important figure in history that is undervalued by history books. Loewen claims that in classrooms all students know that Keller was a blind and deaf girl. Most of them have the knowledge that a teacher named Anne Sullivan befriended Helen. Most students even know that she learned to read and write and even to speak. However, only a few students in classrooms know that Keller was the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college. But regarding to what come about next, about the entire part of her adult life, they are all unaware. To ignore the sixty-four years of Keller’s life or to “encapsulate them with the single word humanitarian is to lie by omission” (20).  Keller managed to change the lives of thousands of people. She traveled the world and brought hope and courage to those who needed it, yet students know only the surface facts of her life. History books omitting all the fascinating aspects of Keller’s life gives the students no reason to be enthused by her or give them a reason to learn more of her; students only learn what classroom textbooks teach and texts fail to capture the whole astonishing life of Helen Keller and many other important figures

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(2016, 06). Lies My Teacher Told Me Book Review. EssaysForStudent.com. Retrieved 06, 2016, from
“Lies My Teacher Told Me Book Review” EssaysForStudent.com. 06 2016. 2016. 06 2016 < "Lies My Teacher Told Me Book Review." EssaysForStudent.com. EssaysForStudent.com, 06 2016. Web. 06 2016. < "Lies My Teacher Told Me Book Review." EssaysForStudent.com. 06, 2016. Accessed 06, 2016. Essay Preview By: izenet Submitted: June 15, 2016 Essay Length: 1,220 Words / 5 Pages Paper type: Book/Movie Report Views: 457 Report this essay Tweet Related Essays Under the Banner of Heaven Book Review-Mormon Fundamentalism Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven. New York: Anchor Books (a division of Random House, Inc.), 2,010 Words  |  9 Pages Book Review: The Japanese This book,"The Japanese", written by Jack Seward covers a lot of information on the overall life of Japan, however, I will only summarized fifty-three pages 1,392 Words  |  6 Pages The Lonely Crowd Book Review David Riesman studied the post World War 2 society during his time. His study involved looking at the socialization of a person within groups, settings 372 Words  |  2 Pages Paradise to Promiseland Book Review Part I In Part two of From Paradise to the Promised Land, T.D. Alexander uses chapters fifteen and sixteen to describe the themes of God’s 1,402 Words  |  6 Pages Similar Topics Book Review Book Review On Corporation Get Access to 89,000+ Essays and Term Papers Join 209,000+ Other Students High Quality Essays and Documents Sign up © 2008–2020 EssaysForStudent.comFree Essays, Book Reports, Term Papers and Research Papers Essays Sign up Sign in Contact us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Service Facebook Twitter