Legends Lies & Cherished Myths Of American History [Paperback]

The "Founding Fathers" chapter teaches you what is censored from the schoolbooks. Page 31 tells of the Yazoo land swindle in Georgia, and the part played by the US Supreme Court after the fact. Neither Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, or Hamilton went to church regularly (p.35). "Presidents" says that Warren Harding was selected after many ballots. His Cabinet included some of the best minds in the country (p.50). If not the brightest, he made it up by often working from 8am to midnight until he died of a heart attack. Eisenhower's "fuzzy locutions" were just a way to give evasive answers (p.54). Reagan was a liberal Democrat from the 1930s to the early 1950s (pp.56-57). Most Presidents had a middle-class to rich background, except Andrew Johnson [and Bill Clinton?] (pp.58-59). Shenkman contradicts de Tocqueville on the "equality of conditions" in America. But de Tocqueville was right; lavish living was politically incorrect, and considered immoral. De Tocqueville also commented on America's fascination with money.

"Sex" suggest the only diference from 200 years ago is more publicity. The sermons against vice in the late 19th century may have been against the industrialized version (p.71). Big cities had guidebooks so "the reader may know how to avoid them" (p.72)! "The Family" notes the high rate of divorce in America started in the 1880s (p.80). Divorce seems to follow the economy (p.81). In past centuries early death was so common that single parent families were prevalent (p.82). "War" suggestss a censored reign of terror during the Revolution; a higher proportion of Loyalists fled than Royalists from Revolutionary France (p.84), where more died. Shenkman says the Mexican War was for territory, as if this was unusual (p.91)! Like most historical arguments, one man's truth is another man's myth. Page 103 says the Japanese emperor and the Supreme Council decided to end the war on June 20, 1945 weeks before the A-bombs were dropped. No one expected deaths from the radiation!

The popular image of "The Frontier" as a place of violence is due to Hollywood movies and dime novels, rather than historical fact (p.112). The Kansan cow towns which saw more violence were those with a large transient male population looking for fun. Davy Crocket's legend came from his political biographies (p.114). "Education" notes the failures in schooling goes way back; it is not a current phenomenon (p.13). College rebellions were common in the early 19th century (pp.135-6). "The Good Old Days" refer to the times where problems were forgotten and good memories retained (pp.159-160). Drug abuse was widespread in the late 19th century, not counting alcohol (p.164). "Folklore" says many famous figures believed to be mythical were based on real people, like Johnny Appleseed (p.166). The "Famous Quotes" chapter explains why some are "famous misquotes:. You can not fool all of the people all of the time after they read this book.

I'm normally a fan of the factoid books, but I guess I just had mismatched expectations. I expected more from this book.

I was also vaguely troubled at a number of points during the book. The author used a lot of weasel words (might, could, may, etc.) when trying to convince us that the conventional understanding of a particular point is wrong. If you know better, say so. If it's a matter still in dispute, that's a little too academic for me to care about.

At other points, I found myself challenging his assumptions and sources. The one good thing I can say about this book is that for popular entertainment it was exceptionally well footnoted. (Not that I have the resources to look up all those books, but it was reassuring to think that I could.)

I doubt I'll be picking up any of his other books.