Customer Reviews

Social Studies: Across the Centuries/ Level 7 (Houghton Mifflin Social Studies)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I was 12 years old in 1993 when I took 7th grade Social Studies. The text was this book, Across the Centuries. At this age, I was certainly no zealot for my religion (Christian), but something about this book made me uncomfortable. I felt that my classmates were getting a poor view of Christianity. I was ashamed of my religion because the text portrayed it as violent and oppressive. I don't recall if any other religions were cast in a better light - but I do know that I learned massive amounts of history and beliefs of Islam, which I felt helped me better understand my close friend who was Muslim. But I didn't feel that the book did the same for my religion. If anything, I had to explain to my friend that Christianity wasn't as bad as the book made it seem.

Now, the book doesn't tell people to become Muslim - though it does tell you how to do it if you want to (all it takes is confessing that you beleive Allah is the only god and Muhammad is his prophet). But then, it doesn't tell people how to become Christian (or Hindu or Jewish) if they want to.

Since hearing all the controversy about this book, I have felt I should share how I felt about it as a student who was actually taught from the book - not just someone who read it or browsed through it. I think it portrays a lopsided view of religion - giving some lots of positive coverage and others negative coverage or none at all. If you really want your children to learn about all cultures or religions equally, this is not the book to use - or at least not the ONLY book to use.

Shortly after the capture of John Phillip Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," I wrote an article about this book for my paper, Investor's Business Daily. When Lindh was in school, this book was widely used in his home state of California, having been the only book approved for use for middle schools in that state for several years. In writing my article, I did a textual analysis of the chapters on Christianity and Islam, counting the instances in which the words "persecute" and "tolerate" were used in their various forms. By my count, Christians were said to persecute people 10 times while Muslims were described as tolerant 10 times. Even worse, Christians were never described as tolerant and Muslims were never said to persecute people. So there you go.

I have read all the chapters dealing with religion in this book very closely. While it may seem that there is nothing wrong with the book by browsing through it, taking a closer look at the text shows that the book pretty much promotes Islam while very clearly putting down Christianity.

This was the textbook I used last year for social studies. We got new textbooks this year, which I don't think have as much information as the old ones. In any case, aside from the controversey about religion in this book, it's pretty good and informative.

However, it does kind of lean towards Islam. I don't have anything against Islam (though personally I think the government is trying to feed us propaganda), but there is just so much about Islam in here, more than about the other religions. I suppose that, yes, it was an empire, but there were other empires that weren't taught in nearly the same way. I found that most mentions of Christianity were related to its corruption, such as the Crusades and the iniquisition.

Other than that, it was a fairly good book, but could be better.

This textbook has become the focus of an urban legend that's been apparently spawned by an ultra-conservative organization eager to make a name for itself. This book is the text for seventh-grade world history classes in California,and some far-wrong-wing sorts have taken great glee in spreading the word that it's somehow anti-Christian. It is clear that the previous reviewer did not read the book.

I have. It's not perfect - and frankly, it leaves a lot out. But it's hardly an instruction book on "How to Be a Muslim." There are two chapters devoted to the birth and expansion of Islamic nations - two, among 18. In addition to history, the book discusses culture, belief systems, lifestyles and yes, religion - but it does NOT endorse any particular belief system.

The book spends much more time, however, discussing European history, including the Crusades, which was hardly a proud moment for the Christian faith. However, the book also devotes time to discussing the Renaissance, Martin Luther, various European monarchies and other developments in Western civilization. It's important to note that California students focus on AMERICAN history in another class, and it appears that this book gives developments in our country short shrift in an attempt to avoid duplication. It's not the best book in the world - we supplement it heavily with other material - but somehow a group of small-minded bigots has decided to demonize it, and in the interests of fairness I can't allow the campaign of misinformation to go on. That would truly make me "outraged."

(By the way, I teach in a PRIVATE religious school, and we use this text. Do a Google search, and you'll see that many private schools use this book as well.)

A huge deal has been made about this book supposedly teaching Islam in public schools. Curious, I bought a copy of the book myself, and it does no such thing. I think people are upset because it doesn't say Islam is evil, or it doesn't say that it was spread by the sword. Islam has been misrepresented in public school textbooks for many, many years, so it's about time Islam was given a fair historical representation, especially in times like these where religious understanding is needed most. All thoughout the 2 chapters on Islam, the text is peppered with "Muslims believe" or "followers of Islam believe," making it crystal clear that the text is not endorsing any particular religious faith, it's just teaching about them. The Islamic and European empires influenced each other in many positive ways throughout history, and it's about time kids learned about it. Maybe someday nations of the world will stop thinking of each other as "Evil Empires" or "Great Satans," and see one another as they are--fellow human beings.

When I heard from someone about this book and how it's pro-Islam and taught in public shcools, I thought maybe that this person is a little exagerating because I didn't think the school board would allow that. After reading just a few pages, I was taken back, but I wanted to make sure and I read all of the chapters dealing with Islam and Christianity. I found that not only did the book portray Islam in a positive way, it portrayed it as almost the "best" religion.

Not stopping there, the book slammed Christianity anyway it could when it talked about it a few chapters later. All I saw about Christianity is, "Crusades", "inqusitions", etc.

This book is a Pro-Islam/Anti-Christian text book. It states as fact many Islam beliefs. It is not a balanced, multi-viewed text and it treats Islam like a great religion and Christianity as a bad religion. It is humiliating to Christians. It teaches our children how to pray like a muslim, but never gives Christianity equal and fair time and information. Don't take my word or anyone elses word for this. Check it out from your school and look it over for yourself. This should not be required reading for public schools.

Many reviewers were complaining that this textbook was teaching how Islam is better than Christiaity. I did not feel this way at all, even though I am an Atheist. The writers of this book wrote down facts about the histroy of the world, not opinions. It was simply comparing and contrasting the religions of Islam and Christianity. I gave this book 5 stars, because as a textbook (which it really is, NOT a religous-teaching book), it is excellent. It teaches many important FACTS about some of the greatest civilizations in the world. It also includes many well-constructed questions that allowed me to better understand the content of the textbook. For those who gave Across the Centuries 1/5 stars, please put your religous beliefs aside and read the textbook. I hope everyone will be able to realize that this textbook teaches about history, not religion.

I find this book to be an outrage to any United States citizen that beleives in "One nation under God." It's already illegal to teach Christianity in our public schools, illegal to pray and now our schools want to use this book to teach the children how to pray to Allah when our country's founding forefathers knew that the only way to the Father is through the Son, Jesus Christ. Abraham Lincoln would be rolling in his grave if he only knew!