Loewen, James W. and Nate Powell. Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaption. New York:
The New Press, 2024. ISBN: 9781620977033
How well do you remember your elementary, junior high, and high school history textbooks? Were you ever confused because facts did not seem to be in the right order or contradicted each other? If so, get hold of this graphic adaptation of James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me and find out what has been missing in all those textbooks!
Over the course of twelve chapters Loewen dissects the problems he has identified in a variety of textbooks. One of the first issues he raises is the sheer amount of facts that are poured into students' brains and the sheer size of the textbooks (18 most popular textbooks he examined averaged 975 pages)! Then there is the fact that most textbooks have an agenda that is focused on telling a heroic story of American history, not a balanced telling. The role and status of Christopher Columbus is explored in its own chapter as is the First Thanksgiving. Loewn spends two chapters looking at the invisibility of racism and antiracism in textbooks (think Gone with the Wind, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln). Then there is a exploration of The Land of Opportunity trope in textbooks, a look at how the concept of the Federal government is taught, and two chapters that discuss the avoidance of the Vietnam War and the recent past in textbooks. Loewen and Powell finish out the book by looking at how history could and should be taught in textbooks. In the afterword, Powell discusses how he and Loewen created a format with the author breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader in a fashion that makes the reader a participant, not just an observer.
If you ever questioned your school textbooks, Lies My Teacher Told Me could be the answer you are looking for! You might not agree with everything in this book, but this is a book that everyone should read and discuss.
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