Customer Reviews

U.S. History Uncensored: What Your High School Textbook Didn't Tell You

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The author covers a lot of ground in a mere 226 pages beginning with Reconstruction in 1865 and ending with a treatment of Peak Oil, Resource Wars, Elections and Dissent. But there are plenty of references, pertinent web links and recommended videos interspersed for further depth should you choose to pursue it. Her writing style is clear, pithy and to the point and the large page format gives visual clarity. The text would be a pleasure to read, if the contents weren't so sobering. In later chapters, she offers solutions to the dilemmas we face which may or may not resonate with the reader. Regardless, it's hard to imagine anyone could read this gripping account without subsequently giving the contents a lot of thought.

US History, Uncensored is highly unflattering to America's past and present, and in dredging up robust historical details, Dr. Baker has whipped history to life. All those little events that previously were mere passing footnotes in my life became linked together in a meaningful way and were dragged kicking and screaming into the light of day. And the picture isn't pretty. Dr. Baker identifies age-old battles and brings them to life as they are continued to be fought right in front of our eyes.

This is not a right versus left, Republican versus Democrat expose. Neither party is left unscathed and she illustrates well why that meme is off the mark. Rather, she has shown us what the real objectives of individuals, corporations, the government and the CIA may be and what is actually being achieved in the name of America. And by highlighting the tactics used, she makes these objectives less likely to be obscurred in the future. Dr. Baker, refreshingly, does not paint Bush as an incompetent. He comes off more as one shrewdly acting to implement the objectives of, perhaps, the Project for a New American Century members. No matter how you see him, it's hard to deny he's getting THAT mission accomplished.

There are a lot of unanswered questions and seemingly insurmountable foes. But giving up and deciding simply to move on in the belief we're being (shudder) patriotic or not wishing to be destructive is to let stacked courts and stacked commissions write our history as well as our future for us. If we cherish our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the sacrifices that were made in the name of freedom, it's not unreasonable to demand our elected representatives abide by and defend these documents. As Dr. Baker points out, these rights were deemed inalienable - granted by virtue of life, not bestowed by government. When we allow elected representatives to break their oaths, when we allow them to terminate these rights, it is theft. And it bequeathes a more dangerous future for us all.

Critical analysis of our political environment and the people who publish it are endangered. Look no further than what has happened to Gary Webb, Catherine Austin Fitts and Michael Ruppert. I for one, thank them for their patriotism and their courage and I thank Dr. Baker for her effort here. I recommend getting this book while you can. Rather than wait 30 years in the hope the Freedom of Information Act still exists and some of these events survive de-classification, why not find out about them now when it has a chance of doing some good?

Although Baker's book is intended as a supplement to a history text book, it really should be read as a stand alone narrative of contemporary U.S. history. The book starts off slow, but quickly gains steam, finishing in a crescendo of well written and cogent arguments for what is really happening to our country. These are the dark secrets of this nation that need to see the light of day, in contrast to the sanitized history we usually hear from texts, politicians, and the media. I highly recommend this book for any American that truely cares about your country.

There are components of this text that I did find valuable when purchasing it: namely the structure of the text, how it was organized, and a good deal of the information from the Civil War through most of the early 20th Century. A great aspect of the book is the hand-out feature. The book is very amenable to making copies as supplementals in a classroom. The quality of the material (accuracy) is also generally good for these periods.

The major pitfall of this text is the quality and reliabiltiy of the citation. The text suffers as the text progresses to the modern period. The citation method is unacademic and many of the resources used are random peoples' homepages, "think tanks," and free encyclopaedias. For example, at many points throughout the latter portion of the text, the author cites Wikipedia...This is ridiculous and no serious scholar would ever do that. Given the standard for submission in Wikipedia is not truth or accuracy, but only verifiability, I could go on there right now, edit her citated material, and make it say something entirely different. Anyone can do this: expertise, training, or qualifications aren't necessary.

Moreover, a good amount of the material has virtually no citation anyway, so no one really has any way to cross-reference or check many of the controversial information she's presenting. What citations are available, aside from Wikipedia, are also suspect and from her pet publishers, associates, or conspiracy theory websites.

The book has a serious bias, as well, which attempts to paint a picture of a serious of Grande National Conspiracies, but very little data are presented to substantiate these claims. Furthermore, contradictory information from academic sources are entirely ignored. For example, the book attempts to show that 9/11 was an inside job, that JFK was assassinated by the government, among other absurd claims. The "evidence" presented is either non-existant, heresay, or presented by people who have no credibility in the relevant fields.

If you were to purchase this book, it has a lot of value for the early period in American History, but be very wary of the latter half of the book, as it decdends quickly into moonbatdom. The lack of quality citations throughout the book, in light of the quality of latter components, makes the book of questionable value to someone not already familiar with the field of History, and thus able to cross-reference.


Note*

In a sense, this text is slightly "better" than A People's History insofar as it has some citations. Howard Zinn's Magnum Opus doesn't follow the Chicago (or any style, really) of citation at all. There are no footnotes, no citations, nothing. There is virtually no way to cross-reference his work, either.

Anyone who bought Zinn's People's History and Lies My Teacher Told Me does not need this book which is not as hard punching as the above two

This book presents the true history that we only know of as conspiracy. The author factually supports several of the historical events that are different from the way we know it and have been taught. This book makes you realize the truth behind our government and several other significant historical events.