Tesh

Hello hi yes I'm back with another book recommendation.

If you are in the US, you have got to read Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. (If you're not in the US, it'll just show you how incredibly racist and biased the US history curriculum is in US high schools is! So It could be fun for you guys as well.) 

You have to read it.

The author takes the twelve most commonly used US history textbooks in high schools and analyzes them for the things that they leave out or lie about. And then he also talks so much about super interesting things and it just adds so much nuance to what's usually taught in schools and it's just so good.

He also talks a lot about why this is such as issue (racism and whitewashing history are a couple big ones) and why this leads to a lot of people finding history boring.

Stuff like this is why I personally love history. I have had an awesome teacher who was willing to dive deep into things, go beyond the curriculum, challenge common misconceptions, made us question, think critically, and just AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I love it so much.

Just, please, take the time to at least look into this book. It's written in a super entertaining way, it's jam-packed with information, and it will honestly make you a better person.

(Oh also, I love the term "whitewashing history." It's so interesting. Cause there's the "whitewashing" where you cover up the "blemishes" or the "imperfections." The things that make (in this case) the US look bad. Then there's also another meaning. "White"washing history. Focusing on history from the white European perspective. Ignoring or invalidating other points of view. (I've had people recommend to me An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States although I haven't read it myself yet, so that might be worth looking into if you guys are interested in this.))

So yeah.

PLEASE READ IT.

If you find history boring this might change your opinion.

At the very least it will leave you a better informed citizen.

Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen.

(Also my psych teacher (he used to teacher world history as well) said this is one of his all-time favorite books, my AP World History teacher uses this to help teach Columbus, and my AP US History teacher listens to the podcast.)

(A few other history books that I've read and that I've loved are Flyboys by James Bradley, Becoming Evil by James Waller, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, and Asperger's Children by Edith Sheffer.)

(Also I'm only about 70 pages into Lies My Teacher Told Me and this is how much I'm already loving it.)

PLEASE READ IT.