48 Liberal Lies About American History: (That You Probably Learned in School) (Hardcover)

by Larry Schweikart (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, World War, Star Wars (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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)
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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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Sentinel HC (September 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595230513
• ISBN-13: 978-1595230515
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,224 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 155 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, September 8, 2008

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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

79 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 48 Lies is a Great Book for Students (and Teachers), September 10, 2008

By	Burton W. Folsom Jr. (Hillsdale, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is hope - The truth is getting out, December 20, 2008

By	C. I. Flatz - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book for my granddaughter. She was reading it during reading time in her classroom. Her eighth grade teacher noticed the title and asked if he could take a look. He started reading and couldn't put it down, she wondered if he was going to give it back. Finally he smiled as he handed back the book and commented very good. Perhaps this teacher is the exception but my granddaughters story certainly made my day.