For me, this book had so much potential. Advertised as a look into the American history textbook system and the faults in it, I was expecting an analysis of why our textbooks lie. Why, in school, we are taught the wrong information? Why, after knowing the information is wrong, is it still taught?

Instead, Loewen seems to have a personal agenda: prove his intelligence by rewriting American history. If what has been regarding for years as correct is wrong, why should any reader believe that Loewen, one person, has everything right? While he does cite and offer a source for most facts, what makes his sources correct and the ones used by our textbooks incorrect? Loewen attempts to sell his own intelligence too much, rather than continue his intelligent claim and let the rest fall into place.

Loewen complains of a bias and elitist tone in American textbooks. Well then, how hypocritical of him to, not only write like his knowledge is the end-all and be-all, but also with an extremely evident bias. Loewen portrays himself as a king of American history and that we should all bow down to his impressive intelligent. Unfortunately, this does not resonate well with readers, especially high school students. Loewen missed the boat on his intelligent idea. ( )

This book was awful. My American History teacher had us read this book over the summer, and the only that kept me going, was the end in sight.

Yes I do concede that Loewen did a good job pointing out many misconceptions and mistakes in textbooks that are read by high school students, but he had many mistakes in his book too. He spent a long time talking about how textbooks are too biased, but his book is extremely biased as well. I am currently reading The American Pageant, which is one of the books Loewen hammered for being a poor book, but I see fewer problems in my textbook than in his book. He shows extreme biases to certain political ideologies, and even makes a bad joke at President George H. W. Bush very soon into the first chapter. He attempted to make a funny spin off of Anne Richard's famous remark at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, but it ends up being a red herring for things to come.

Loewen spends too much time acting as if he knows all and no one else knows anything. He comes off as an elitist sociologist professor that needs to understand that history no single person can always to right.

I recommend this book, under the grounds that some interesting things can be learned from this book, but be aware of his extreme bias. ( )

I loved this book. I didn't always agree with Mr. Loewen's assumptions, but, overall, it was a wonderful read. Very informative. ( )

Though the title sounds like a rant on education in general, this book deals specifically with what history textbooks get wrong, using a dozen textbooks as examples. It's no mere quibble. In the very first chapter I learned that Woodrow Wilson was a flaming racist and Helen Keller was a radical socialist, neither of which were even hinted at during my schooling.It's a little depressing in spots. I'm young enough that much of my history class dealt with how white people have done nothing but screw things up - whenever white people meet non-white people they bring disease, abuse, enslavement, and death. This book taught me that it's actually much worse than I knew. For example, the Pilgrims were grave robbers, the North during Reconstruction was almost as bad as the South, and white people managed to get Indians to fight most of their wars for them the first couple centuries they were here.It's not all bad. There is, for instance, a chapter on anti-racism immediately following the one on racism. (For all history textbooks ignore the effects of racism, they also ignore racial idealism.) After several chapters on correcting common myths and omissions, the author follows up with not only reasonable justification for learning history in the first place, but also ideas for improving curricula without suggesting there is a One Right Way to teach history. It's a fascinating read, and for all the negative reviews I've read, very easy to figure out which parts are facts and which parts are the author's opinions. I certainly do not agree with everything in this book, but it gave me quite a bit of food for thought. More importantly, it instilled in me a curiosity about American history - something my teachers were never able to do. ( )

Lies My Teacher Told Me is a factual book that contains loads of misconceptions detailed in high school American history textbooks. However, the book is also full of fallacies itself. I've never read a more biased book in my life and to add, the fact of the matter is, it's completely hypocritical. The author, James Loewen, although a prominent college history professor is writing as if he was personally at attendence (for example) at the Annapolis Convention or as if he WAS an African American in the early 20th century. It seems as though he forgot to consider that everything passed down through history (he cites history from the pre-columbian era) is not absolutely accurate. To me, he came off as an arrogant, all-knowing history teacher who, in a way, ridicules his college students for their lack of knowledge. Sorry, Loewen, you didn't win me over on this one. ( )