- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Sentinel Trade (Aug 25 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1595230564
- ISBN-13: 978-1595230560
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.9 x 2.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #437,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Textbooks have long served as a main battlefield in the culture wars and the latest salvo comes from Schweikart, a history professor at the University of Dayton (A Patriot's History of the United States), who examines leading American history texts and other books that he sees as purveying a distinctly slanted view of American history—one that portrays the United States as oppressive, imperialistic, and evil. Each lie is deliberated in a brief essay. A chapter on the notion that FDR knew in advance that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor focuses largely on countering Robert Stinnett's Day of Deceit. The belief that Columbus was responsible for killing millions of Indians (drivel) is, he says, based on faulty statistics. In examining the belief that Richard Nixon sent burglars into the Watergate office complex, the author accepts G. Gordon Liddy's account of events over John Dean's. Regarding the Rosenbergs, Schweikart cites Soviet documents proving they were indeed spies. Schweikart marshals an arsenal of statistics and scholarly studies, and while his own biases will limit his reach, he offers an object lesson in the need for scrupulous balance in the writing of history textbooks. (Sept. 4)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Over the last forty years, history textbooks have become more and more politically correct and distorted about our country’s past, argues professor Larry Schweikart. The result, he says, is that students graduate from high school and even college with twisted beliefs about economics, foreign policy, war, religion, race relations, and many other subjects.
As he did in his popular A Patriot’s History of the United States, Professor Schweikart corrects liberal bias by rediscovering facts that were once widely known. He challenges distorted books by name and debunks forty-eight common myths. A sample:
• The founders wanted to create a “wall of separation” between church and state
• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because he needed black soldiers
• Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima to intimidate the Soviets with "atomic diplomacy"
• Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan, was responsible for ending the Cold War
America’s past, though not perfect, is far more admirable than you were probably taught.
As he did in his popular A Patriot’s History of the United States, Professor Schweikart corrects liberal bias by rediscovering facts that were once widely known. He challenges distorted books by name and debunks forty-eight common myths. A sample:
• The founders wanted to create a “wall of separation” between church and state
• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because he needed black soldiers
• Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima to intimidate the Soviets with "atomic diplomacy"
• Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan, was responsible for ending the Cold War
America’s past, though not perfect, is far more admirable than you were probably taught.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great summary of the most common anti-American falsehoods,
By
This review is from: 48 Liberal Lies About American History: (That You Probably Learned in School) (Paperback)
FDR knew in advance about the Pearl Harbor attack. Alger Hiss was innocent. 9/11 was an inside job and a hoax. Truman was wrong to order the atomic bombing of Japan. Nixon ordered the Watergate break-in. Clinton was impeached for lying about sex. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because the Union Army needed more troops. Gun ownership was uncommon in the early days of the Republic and most of the guns were barely usable. JFK was assassinated as a result of a huge conspiracy. The postwar hunt for Communists was without basis and was nothing but a cruel witchhunt that ruined the lives of innocent people. The invasion of Iraq was wrong because there was no evidence of WMDs and Saddam did not have ties to terrorists. And especially this: History textbooks are free of bias.Right? WRONG, WRONG, and DEAD WRONG!! These are some of the most persistent misconceptions that Americans (and others around the world) have about what may be the greatest country in history, and demonstrably so. The worst part of it all may be that the confusion is not due to ignorance, but to deliberate misinformation by left-leaning scholars with tenure in the nation's leading institutes of higher learning, so that the more "educated" you are (or think you are), the more brainwashed by lies you are! And the author is not making idle claims. Schweikart has reviewed many commonly used history textbooks, sometimes on behalf of state educational authorities. Every lie that is exposed is debunked with the help of numerous documented sources. Some of the lies you may already know about, and some of them may be a surprise for you. Either way, you will find this book a refreshing read.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.3 out of 5 stars (93 customer reviews) 223 of 300 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great articles that will give you fresh insight into 48 issues in American History,
By Craig Matteson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 48 Liberal Lies About American History: (That You Probably Learned in School) (Hardcover)
While I think the title of the book is needlessly provocative, I think this a very useful book for anyone who has been subjected to the kind of indoctrination that passes for history education in too many of our public schools and colleges. If you are looking for some quick information on these four dozen issues, this can help you pass on some solid information that probably runs counter to what your friends believe is so. I said the title is needlessly provocative because not all liberals buy into the points of view this book argues against. However, Larry Schweikart is correct that there is a general cultural agenda that supports the liberal view of things. He starts off each article with two or three short quotes from liberal histories that are countered in that article.The articles cover notions of America's role in the world since the founding, the issues in the various wars we have fought, what FDR knew about Pearl Harbor, Truman and the Atomic Bomb, the JFK assassination, Reagan, key liberal causes such as Sacco and Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs, the Scopes Trial, Columbus and the death of millions of Indians, that pesky wall between Church and State, Women's Rights in early American, the Settling of America and the Indians, and the Robber Barons. Modern issues such as Iraq, 9/11, Global Warming, Media Bias, Educational Bias, and the social theories about our Constitution are also covered. Schweikart admits that saying that the 9/11 conspiracy nuts are liberal is a stretch, but he says he wanted to head off the kind of shoulder shrugs modern texts give to the JFK assassination conspiracy nonsense. The articles are all relatively short and pack a punch. I am absolutely positive that it will annoy liberals a great deal and some of them will attack the book without bothering to read it. I guess that is a side benefit of the book. Its real point is to push back against what some are trying to make dominant and accepted without critique. Of course, wanting to indoctrinate students is a matter of faith rather than scholarship or education. If you home school you will definitely want that as an addition to your readings in American History. You will also want to look at Schweikart's `A Patriot's History of the United States". A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI 140 of 189 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Check an old encyclopedia,
By CeeCee - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 48 Liberal Lies About American History: (That You Probably Learned in School) (Hardcover)
We still have an edition World Book Encyclopedia published in 1984 and one published in 1965. It is interesting to verify his complaints about modern text books. The re-writing of history is most disburbing. Find an old encyclopedia and check it out for yourself unless you are old enough to actually remember some of the events of the 1940's till today like I am. Many of us are still around who remember when the nasty lies about the USA were told by our enemies; not by our text books, movies, etc. After verifying facts for yourself, please take action to break this pattern of self-destruction. Please confront your local school boards when you find lies in text books. Hit the text book publishers in the "pocket book." One test is that if a text gets Reagan right, it might be OK. Surely you are old enough to remember those actual events!
117 of 162 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
48 Lies is a Great Book for Students (and Teachers),
By Burton W. Folsom Jr. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 48 Liberal Lies About American History: (That You Probably Learned in School) (Hardcover)
Professor Schweikart has written a valuable and timely book. He takes on rampant political correctness in the writing of history texts and comes through with a five star performance. He is an expert on U. S. economic history but his breadth is apparent when he takes on standard leftist biases in diplomatic history as well as political history. One interesting thing Schweikart notices is that often a liberal slant will emerge on a topic and become entrenched in the texts. Then other historians will test the liberal idea and find many facts to contradict it. However, the history texts do not make the corrections and the bias is passed on to future generations. Schweikart shows this to be the case in the view of the motives in writing the Constitution and also in the Sacco and Vanzetti case (among others). Schweikart is an expert on economic history, but is very capable when exposing biases on Ronald Reagan, JFK, and LBJ. His emphasis is on modern U. S. history, but he is also excellent describing the first Thanksgiving, Thomas Jefferson, and the Mexican and Spanish American Wars.
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