I liked James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, but for me, like all nonfiction, it read like homework. I did learn things. I had never known Woodrow Wilson was an out-and-out racist, friends with the author of The Clansman, reviewed here several months ago and the novel upon which Birth of a Nation was based. I never knew that Helen Keller, after grasping the concept of w-a-t-e-r, grew up to become an avowed socialist who praised the USSR. Her image is on the Alabama quarter, and I doubt the people who came up with its design had any idea. That amuses me.
Blacks, Indians and all peoples of color are dismissed or ignored in American history texts. I knew that—but not the extent to which they are.
Fascinating tidbit (IMHO): Well over a year ago, I read and reviewed Uncle Tom's Cabin. The character of Uncle Tom blew me away. He was an all-out hero, standing up to the white man and finally giving his life rather than doing something he believed was wrong. How, I wondered at the time, did this character turn into the Uncle Tom we know today. Lies told me. "Theatrical productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin played through the nadir (a term coined by a Rayford Logan for the worst period of racism in the US, from 1890 through the 1940s), but since the novel's indictment of slavery was no longer congenial to an increasingly racist white society, rewrites changed Uncle Tom from a martyr who gave his life to protect his people into a sentimental dope who was loyal to kindly masters." (page 164) To me, learning that alone made the book worth reading.
Loewen stresses the impact American history texts have on any non-affluent children, white youngsters included. The emphasis of these texts is on America, the land of opportunity where anyone can be whatever he wants. So what about the child in a poor family that can never get a break? Loewen believes knowledge of the roadblocks society creates could make that child feel better. I agree.
He also makes the claim that history texts don't present the past in terms of how it affects the present. Lies does so. I liked that.
Recommend? I dunno. I did like it but sense readers of this thread have either read it or will decide it's not their cup of tea. I heard about it in one of Ag's postings, was intrigued, and overall am glad I read it.
Last edited by humphreysmar; 03/19/08 07:22 PM.
