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Title: Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen ISBN: 0-684-87067-3 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 14 November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.39 (54 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: For those who enjoy challenging their own ideas: READ!!
Comment: Loewen's book is important for one reason: it forces the reader to question what they've been told is true, or what they've been told to believe. People can dismiss his examples as political correctness, or as one-sided, but that's in essence the point: every history you will ever read is told through a particular filter or point of view. This point of view shapes (or distorts)the historical narrative in different ways, some of them deliberately misleading. Loewen argues against merely accepting the dominant point of view, i.e. throwing off the notion that only the victors can write history. Beyond that, there is much that he points out about our nation's historical sites that are inarguably factually inaccurate. Anyone from any idealogical background should be eager to have all history told with the truth in mind, although versions of this "truth" may always differ. Loewen was asked in an interview if this approach might lead to an "all history is relative" attitude, but he disagreed: "No, to encourage differences of opinion is not to say that all opinions are equally appropriate. There is a reason that teachers are at the head of the class. And there is such a thing as truth. You can only get there, though, by scrutinizing different perspectives and encouraging debate." This book certainly encourages a critical reading of history, and for that alone is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship. The reader should be upset by the time they finish this book, and then they should examine exactly why that's so. Is it because you think Loewen's done a hatchet job on American history? Or is it that you can't believe what's been passed off to you as history? Either way, an America in which history is told from different points of view and vigorously argued is a stronger America than one in which we passively accept a particular point of view, or remain ignorant as to who's doing the telling.
Rating: 5
Summary: What a wonderful suprise.
Comment: I received this book as a Christmas gift from two friends in 2000 and, to be honest, was not that excited about it. Not surprisingly then, it sat on my bookshelf for almost a year and a half. How stupid of me...
The odds were against me liking the book. Not only had I not picked up a book on American History since my sophomore year in college 12 years ago, but I am a slow reader with a short attention span. So what a wonderful surprise when the book totally captivated me. It's an easy, quick read - even for a slow poke like me because the essays are usually pretty short. But most importantly, it enthralled me by providing the often shocking background to the historical events that had been "sterilized" in my history classes. Indeed this was also Loewen's mission in his previous book, "Lies My Teacher Told Me" - which I ordered from Amazon immediately after finishing this book (and also loved, but probably not as much as this one...).
This book moved me to shock, disbelief and often disgust in the way some Americans have presented history. I feel much more informed about the events covered and better able to interpret historical events thanks the method suggested by the author. I'm not a history expert by any stretch so I can't say if this is a great book for history enthusiasts. But for a "layman" like me, I thought it was one of the best I've read on any subject. Of course, I have since profusely thanked the friends who gave me the book as a gift.
Rating: 3
Summary: Five stars for emotional response; two stars for neutrality
Comment: This book is a real heart-tugger. However, it wasn't until I was about one-third of the way thru the book that I realized I was being sideswiped. At first I responded completely emotionally to the little essays. So many attacks on the same victims. Move to another place in the book. Same victims. Move to another place. Same victims. This view of historical situations wasn't hinted at in the title, the subtitle or anywhere on the front or back covers. I thought I was going to see a cross-section of errors in history, an interesting and objective look at what passes for fact in history as told around America. I gradually started to realize that that the author wasn't really interested in an objective look at history. Instead the author wanted to show us how politically correct he could be, how sensitive he was, how brilliant he was compared to the rest of the herd who didn't know what he knew. He had carefully shaped and shortened facts to present his view of what happened. Without meaning to, I'm sure, the author taught a lesson I've not seen elsewhere. There was no difference between him and the people he criticized. As he did in this book, they manipulated us emotionally with their selective view of an event. They had admirers and detractors of their presentations of information. They were politically correct for their time and place, just as he is for his time and place. Ah history, we can always learn from it.
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Title: Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen ISBN: 0684818868 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 03 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History by Richard Shenkman ISBN: 0060972610 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: A People's History of the United States : 1492-Present by Howard Zinn ISBN: 0060528370 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Legends & Lies of World History by R. Shenkman ISBN: 0060922559 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Unsolved Mysteries of American History : An Eye-Opening Journey through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events by Paul H. Aron ISBN: 0471283681 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 22 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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