Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

I agree with the criticism that the author has an agenda, but I disagree that it is so clearly biased. While his examples often include commentary and opinion, the reader should be able to filter through that to the real point: there is a lot of missing information or outright lies told in high school history books used today.

I especially like the reviewer here who expresses the sentiment that Americans be proud of their history. That reviewer misses the main point which is that you don't only tell the positives without any of the negatives because you deprive the student from understanding that history, both the people and the events in it, are not one dimension things which can be glossed over.

I challenge any reader/listeners of this book to think about whether the way Americans are taught history is accurate for all students. If you are native American, African, or any other racial group other than white, are the stories accurate or is American history just supposed to make white Americans feel good about how great they are?

I am white and no apologist. History is history and none of us are responsible for what others did, especially in the past. The point is that history should help us understand why our world is the way it is today. If it's just a feel good fiction story, what is the point?

...at least that's what my American History professor told me during my first year of college. As it turns out, he might have been right. By the third chapter of this book I had to pause it to go look up information on the author just to make sure it wasn't my history professor. It's not. Just some old white guy. But I swear this is the same information that I so vehemently rejected in college. Perhaps (and I hate to say this) I was more accepting of the information because it was coming from a white man and not from a black man who I found condesending and insulting. Or maybe it's because I have age and experience on my side this time.

The argument I used with my professor was that, although I'm white, I came from the lowest of low classes and escaped a religious cult in order to get an education. I was offended that he was telling me that I, and all other white people, are the reason that he struggled to make something of himself.

This book brought both of these issues into clear focus for me. Race and social class. It would seem that my professor and I were playing roles we had been given by society and by our collective history.

I thought this book was going to be more about getting the facts straight, but it is, instead, about why we are taught history that emphisizes the positives and complettely ignores any negatives, and how/why we need to change how history is taught in high school. Like some of the other reviewers, I found the author to be a bit boring and sometimes a little too angry. I understand his passion, but it came off as preachy.

On the positive side, even when the book was boring, it still kept my interest. I knew a lot of the awful things about slavery, genocide and that Christopher Columbus was an a**hole, but was truly amazed at what he said about Helen Keller. I like her even more now. Yes, yes. So she identified herself as a communist. But she had the guts to stand up and shout (sign?) about what she knew was wrong, and that's more than most hearing and sighted people are willing to do.

This book won't be for everyone. It's academic rather than entertaining. But if you have the patience to get through it, you might just be a better person for it. Even if you don't like what the author is saying, perhaps you can still take away from this book the message that I found to be the most important. Think for yourself, ask questions and don't follow along blindly when you can be an active participant.

Very entertaining and narrated well. Not good for the car, becuase you may want to keep noting down things to check. I borrowed a lot of history books from the library while I was listening to this book, and had a great time discussing with various friends the views the author expresses, especially the view that you can be proud of a country that sometimes does bad things. I laughed myself silly when I found that our British books also censor Helen Keller's political views, and was chilled by Columbas' quoted letters. History writing at it's most thought provoking and entertaining.

A must read for anyone enjoys history from a world's perspective. One of the best history books I've ever encountered. Excellent author and great narration too!

It's an easy listen but a tremendous amount is missing without the illustrations and notes of the print copy, which my daughter had as required reading in her seconary AP American History class -- which caused me to listen in the first place.

This is NOT a history book. It's a sociology book about secondary history education. Unfortunately while the author makes an impassioned plea for the problem he fails to provide any comprehensive solution. More textbooks with less scope and more depth won't do it, yet that, along with a change in the approach of teachers and school boards (and no methodology for achieving that) are about all that's really proposed.

Likewise, it's easy to say that we should not publish inaccurate or misleading data and then feed it to our students under the guise of unalterable facts. I agree strongly with the fact that we should not publish information that is untrue -- but its nowhere near as clear how far we should go to _draw_attention_ to the humanity and foibles of our "heros" without destroying the reason for mentioning the hero at all.

Stong "liberal" agenda to the book, but the fundamental message that students should be taught to THINK, and that avoiding controversy is destructive to that end, is valid.

Since learning this particular fact in "Lies" I have asked many colleagues and to a person, no one was even aware that there was any question or debate regarding Betsy Ross and the first flag.

Granted, the truth about the first flag doesn't impact economics, world relations, or human rights, but it does make you feel foolish - at age 60 I feel like I just learned there isn't a Santa Claus.

Of course the myth about Ms. Ross is just the tip of the misinformation students are fed regarding American history.It gets better. From Columbus, to Woodrow Wilson, to our involvement in war, the American history most of us learned is embarrassing, inaccurate, and dangerous.

This was one of the most eye-opening and educational books I have ever read I really think it's a most read for anyone who is interested in current events and curious why the rest of the world doesn't see the US quite the way we do.
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While the narrator was definitely not one of my favorites and at times to book seemed to get bogged down in educational politics,the information was so important that those annoyances were simply minor aggravations.

The first reviewer ("James") concluded that "History is history- you can't lie about it."; however, the very point of the book is that you can lie about history and, very often, those who lie are the very people who author the textbooks used in many High School history classes.

The real question poised by this book is more blunt: should we teach our children the full truth about the history of our country (good, bad, and indifferent) or do we try to instill "unquestioning patriotism" on the masses?

The book does become more "preachy" towards the second half, and the author certainly has an agenda of his own, but the questions raised are still salient, appropiate, and very interesting.

The important thing to know about this book is that it's not a history book. It's a book ABOUT history books.

I bought this book thinking it was another book I had read in the past : "That's Not in MY History Book", which is a really fun read and very informative.

"Lies..", on the other hand is a rather scholorly work but boring, repetitive, and whiny. You won't learn too many new anecdotal facts, but rather just a handful that are meticulously proven then worked to death. For example, expect to learn that Hellen Keller became a card-carrying communist (which is interesting), then prepare to listen to the author whine that it's not in the history books for about 20 pages.

If you want to listen to a history book that I think would get the "Lies.." stamp of approval yet not be boring, I would suggest "Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned". There's a 6 hour version and a 20 hr version. That books doesn't gloss over slavery, indians, or any of the other hot buttons, yet at the same time has a positive vibe. Listen to this books a few times, as I did, and you'll not only be an expert on American History, but an expert on Indian History, Black history and the slavery issue. Then you can quiz your friends and laugh at them. Ha!

It started out with facts. Helen Keller was an outspoken communist. President Wilson's foreign policy affects our current international image. Columbus enslaved Indians and brought the plague that wiped them out.

But then it degenerated into reading passages from 12 history books and ranting about how Indian history was misrepresented and why everything European was evil. Right or wrong, his approach is boring.

I lasted almost through half of the audio book before I realized it was never going to get any better. Skip this for the history lesson. There are many better books on Indian history. Skip this for the humor, there isn't any. Skip this for a rehash of all of the bad history you learned in high school. It was bad enough the first time.

On second thought, just skip this altogether.

This is only the second book that I have made an effort to review. I am doing so because I wish to spare some poor soul 13 hours of misery.

It should be titled “A few inaccuracies and omissions in high school american history textbooks and my opinions”. It started out with a few inaccuracies that are well established and then degenerated to finding fault with everything and everyone in America, except for the poor lower income group, which has no hope. An accurate description would be that Mr. Loewen in a hammer and everything is a nail.

Mr. Loewen must feel terrible having no hope and finding nothing right with America. He is still rehashing and expounding on his experiences as a social activist in the 60s. Things are different!

I grew up in the lower class and used all of the virtues that Mr. Loewen criticizes to do well. Mr. Loewen is a sociologist and can always see the dark side of the few statistics that he has. Unless you like being criticized and depressed for the last 6-7 hours, don’t bother with this one.