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Avg. Customer Rating:(based on 16 reviews) Sales Rank: 1771 Category: Book
Author:Larry Schweikart Publisher:Sentinel HC Studio:Sentinel HC Manufacturer:Sentinel HC Label:Sentinel HC Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published) Media: Hardcover Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 320 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2 Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2
Product Description A historian debunks four-dozen PC myths about our nation?s past.
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.
Weak follow up to a Patriot's History November 12, 2008 0 out of 3 found this review helpful
First of all I have to say that I had grand expectations for this book given how much I enjoyed Larry Schweikart's "A Patriot's History of the United States," yet this book chose the path of being more provocative, and confrontational rather than educational. Schweikart makes a number of good points but also picks and chooses his battles which I believe undermine his arguments in a number of instances.
Please don't misunderstand I am grateful for Mr. Schweikrart's viewpoints and I am glad he is there to make sure we don't slide into an overly biased viewpoint of American history. Still, one only needs to review a representative sample of history texts to see that they bend of backwards to try and be fair and it is in doing so that we end up with the silliness Mr. Schweikart so astutely points out. I enjoy this book, but we are far from the crisis alluded to within its pages.
Easy Read -- Excellent Discussion Points on Biases In Education November 11, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Author Larry Schweikart has done the American public a valuable service in exposing the liberal biases in American textbooks that have helped move the public markedly to the left in the last five decades. He has done this in a very readable fashion -- actually this book is almost fun to read if the subject wasn't so disturbing.
Schweikart is admittedly a conservative academic historian; a very rare bird indeed and something simply not permitted on faculties of "elite" universities like those in the Ivy League who are promoting the Bilderberg agenda and producing globalist and socialist leaders. One wonders even how he gets along at the University of Dayton with its overwhelming numbers of leftist faculty.
Some of the "Lies" Schweikart presents are extremely well researched and argued while others would take many more pages to firmly nail down the truth. He comes up short, for example, on the leftist contention than North America was populated by vast numbers of Indians (some "historians" go as high as 90 million) before Columbus arrived. He fails to mention the leftist methodology for arriving at the "high" estimates. Those promoting such absurd figures take the Indian populations as estimated by colonists and explorers (already high estimates), then after assuming those populations to be only 5% of their former numbers due to European-introduced diseases and European brutality, they fecklessly multiple those numbers by 20.
Another "Liberal Lie" that troubled me was #3, "FDR Knew in Advance About the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor." First of all, this contention normally comes from the conservative side rather than the liberal. In addition, the preponderance of evidence shows that Roosevelt did believe an attack at Pearl Harbor was quite possible, but he also believed all necessary precautions had been taken by his military commanders to repel such an attack. Kimmel was an aggressive commander, and Short supposedly had put the Army at the highest possible alert level. Unfortunately, Short had reversed the alert level numbers without informing Marshall, so Marshall thought Short was at the highest alert level when actually he was at the lowest. The rest, as they say, is history.
The last "Lie" I wish to comment on is Schweikart's correction that Slavery was indeed the driving force behind the Civil War. As Schweikart points out, Slavery was THE issue causing the South's secession. However, the motivation for most of the South's men to fight was not to preserve slavery, but rather to defend self-determination and their home-grown rights. (See McPherson, "Why They Fought.") This is an important distinction, and one not often made in the North.
Yes, history textbooks are biased to the left, and this work exposes that fact for parents who care how their children are indoctrinated in school. They should purchase and read this book. Even if some "Lies" can be subject to discussion, it is exactly this discussion that makes this book so valuable. Parents could do much worse than go over every one of the 48 "Lies" with their children to help balance their education. Education is simply too important to be left up to teachers and educators.
Highly recommended.
Don't Judge it by its Cover November 3, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The main value in this book is that it provokes debate about American history. Historians do have a tendency to present their opinions as fact, and their opinions often have more to do with ideology than hard facts. One point that should be taken seriously is that historians frequently know little or nothing about economics. The general lack of knowledge concerning economics among historians is not a problem for those who claim to be experts on social history or military history. But many historians claim expertise on matters of economic history. Alleged lie #26 (on the 1950's being a dull age of conformity) is a matter of social history. Different people can have different opinions on such matters.
On the other hand, there is no longer any doubt about the Rosenberg's and many others accused of collaboration with the Soviets. Furthermore, many of the standard lines from historians on economic issues (i.e. the need for government regulation and the causes of the Great Depression) are at very best highly questionable, if not contrary to fact.
Those who think that Schweikart is purely partisan should take note of the fact that he defends FDR and LBJ from absurd conspiracy theories (in addition to absurd 9-11 conspiracy theories). I am not sure about the extent to which these and other conspiracy theories get taught in classrooms. I also doubt that many students take such nonsense seriously. But I suppose such myths do need to be debunked.
The problem with this book is that its title discourages discussion between those who disagree on how to interpret US History. Publishers do sometimes like to use provocative titles as a marketing device, and this is likely what happened here. The title is unfortunate because many on the left should rethink their position, or at least try to engage conservatives and libertarians in more thoughtful debate. Of course, there are many on the left who are too dogmatic to ever engage in an honest debate. But there are a considerable number of people on the left who are open to real discussion who might be put off by this book's title. Try reading it anyway.
Very good updating of American History October 27, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Everyone should read this book, which is a heavily foot-noted updating of the real history of America. Do your kids a favor and make them read it too.
Revisionistic garbage October 19, 2008 12 out of 61 found this review helpful
Schweikart wrote a lousy, factually inaccurate and provocative book. For example, his assessment of Gorbachev is patently absurd. The Soviet leader did indeed end the cold war and had been rebuffed over StarWars at Reykjavik. After Gorby went to the G7 summit, the West turned their backs on him and the Soviet Union collapsed. I would certainly think that the U of Dayton would be a last choice place to study history with a neo-con idiot like Schweikart on its staff. Hey, US News, you need to downgrade the university some more. (Of course, if they do have knowledgeable and distinguished faculty - more liberal and not necessarily lefties, then I apologize.) Schweikart is obviously an idealogue. Read something enlightening like "Bad Money" or "The Shock Doctrine" to understand why this so-called professor is flat wrong.
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