The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (Paperback)

by Thomas E. Woods Jr. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Claiming that most textbooks and popular history books were written by biased left-wing writers and scholars, historian Thomas Woods offers this guide as an alternative to "the stale and predictable platitudes of mainstream texts." Covering the colonial era through the Clinton administration, Woods seeks to debunk some persistent myths about American history. For instance, he writes, the Puritans were not racists intent on stealing the Indians' lands, the Founding Fathers were not revolutionaries but conservatives in the true sense of the word, the American War Between the States (to even call it a civil war is inaccurate, Woods says) was not principally about slavery, Abraham Lincoln was no friend to the slaves, and FDR's New Deal policies actually made the Depression worse. He also covers a wide range of constitutional interpretations over the years, particularly regarding the First, Second, Ninth, and Tenth amendments, and continually makes the point that states' rights have been unlawfully trampled upon by the federal government since the early days of the republic. Though its title is more deliberately provocative than accurate, Woods' attack on what he sees as rampant liberal revisionism over the past 25 years proves to be an interesting platform for a book. He's as biased as those he rails against, of course, but he does provoke thought in an entertaining way even if he sometimes tries to pass off opinion as hard facts.

This quick and enjoyable read is packed with unfamiliar quotes, informative sidebars, iconoclastic viewpoints, and a list of books "you're not supposed to read." It is not a comprehensive or detailed study, but that is not its aim; instead, it offers ideas for further research and a challenge to readers to dig deeper and analyze some basic assumptions about American history--a worthy goal that Woods manages to reach. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
This book is not so much politically incorrect as it is contrarian, as well as utterly contemptuous of anything supported by Liberals or "Intellectuals." At every opportunity, Woods quotes government leaders, media sources and "distinguished" academics who have said something that he feels backs up his view. That view is, by and large, classically conservative, with a focus on states’ rights and small government. Any flaws in or missteps by politicians become instant basis for rejecting them wholesale (i.e., Lincoln’s racial views; the fact that JFK’s two major books were ghostwritten), as Woods dredges up accusations both familiar and long-forgotten. The historical coverage is hardly comprehensive, since Woods focuses on telling the "truth" about issues Liberals have allegedly distorted, like the New Deal and the Civil Rights movement. Some ideas that he claims are controversial are anything but: most people know the Civil War was not fought primarily to abolish slavery, and it’s no secret that Stalin starved his people. Woods writes with zeal, and speckles his narrative with suggestions for further reading labeled "Books You’re Not Supposed to Read" (which are mostly Right-wing revisionist histories) and "PC Today" boxes containing a grab-bag of conservative gripes and assertions (i.e. "It is not true, as most people believe, that the Indians had no conception of land ownership and did not understand what they were doing when they sold their land to the Puritans"). Diehard Republicans may find this book an inspiring corrective to supposedly Liberal-biased history texts, but others will be put off by Woods’s cherry-picking approach and supercilious tone.
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Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895260476
• ISBN-13: 978-0895260475
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (264 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The Politically Incorrect Guides Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pungent and Provocative. If you only read one book in the "Politically Incorrect Guide" series, this should be it. , September 3, 2006

By	The Lifelong Learner (Santa Monica) - See all my reviews

There is very little in this book that I didn't know from other historical sources already, but with all the misinformation out there it will open your mind to examine what you read or think you know more critically. Dr. Woods has done us a big favor by putting it all together in this exceedingly readable volume. Don't expect it to be a comprehensive history. It's not meant to be. It's more like the "missing" books - in this case what's missing from standard American history texts.

Woods knocks off one myth and misperception after another - the Puritans "stole" Indian lands; and my favorites, as a long-term student of economics: Herbert Hoover "did nothing" about the market crash (he did way too much and hastened a depression); FDR changed all that (he continued and expanded on Hoover policies to give us another 10 years of depression), and so on. None of this should be news but apparently it is and that's why we need a book like this.

Moreover, Woods presents it - even some of the more arcane constitutional issues - with remarkable clarity. He has a facility to put facts in the context of contiguous events as well as fast forwarding to the "PC" of today. There's no sugar coating here. We see some of our treasured ideas and men - warts and all. You probably won't "agree" with (perhaps I should say like) all his findings (I didn't).

The organization of the book with highlights, bullet summaries and sidebars adds to comprehension and recall. While I found a few nits to pick here and there they are too insignificant to lower the rating of the book. Buy it. Read it! And have your kids read it when they study American history.

98 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poor kid, February 23, 2006

By	R.N. Grabill "Rog" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I've never posted a review on Amazon before, but I couldn't help it after seeing the "Kid's Review" below. For one thing, he calls Woods a "jingoist." Sorry, kid, but you're a pretty crummy reader if you think Woods, a conservative who criticizes just about every war I can see, is a "jingoist."

1.) The argument that the revolutionaries were conservatives is a very old one, and supported by a lot of fairly smart people, so it probably can't be dismissed with the non-argument Junior gives here.

2.) The Civil War was obviously not over slavery at first, given that Lincoln himself said it wasn't. Woods nowhere says that the Union's unfair taxation caused the war. He makes a brief point about tariffs, but if you blink you'll miss it.

3.) This is such a ridiculous caricature it's not worth dignifying.

4.) Obviously the kid's review knows nothing about the history of land purchases from the Indians. Only a moron thinks the New England tribes were "kicked off" in the seventeenth century, which is all Woods is saying. The poor kid is thinking of nineteenth-century Indian removal.

5.) Well, FDR DIDN'T get us out of the Depression! Even mainstream historians concede that! Just look at the employment statistics for goodness sake. And I have absolutely no idea what the kid means by FDR "sold us out to the Japanese," but I am absolutely sure nothing Woods says could possibly be described that way.

6.) Again, Woods takes a nuanced view and the kid writes a caricature. Woods says the McCarthy matter is a complicated one to sort out, but he does quote some liberals of today who admit that McCarthy was more right than his critics. Or did our kid skip those pages?

7.) The kid knows nothing about Woods, apparently. Woods has written endlessly on economics and on the inefficiencies and immorality of socialism. THAT was what brought down the Soviet Union. Woods would be the last person to give credit to a politician.

But the fact that the kid calls the book "jingoist" really takes the cake. The book is a systematic indictment of the U.S. government, not a celebration of it, as anyone who actually read it (as opposed to reading the front and back covers) would know.

Buy this book for all the kids in your life, so they won't grow up like little Mr. Propaganda.

77 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The proof is in the doofuses, June 12, 2006

By	J Barber "Barber of Seville" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

All you need to do is read the one-star reviews to see why you should read this book. We get told by one reviewer that it's "inaccurate," but, SURPRISE, no actual examples. Another reviewer thinks he has an example of an error when he says Woods calls Jefferson a Republican, when he was a Democrat. Why I am even bothering to reply to such an idiotic misunderstanding I do not know, but Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican, and his party was nearly always called the Republicans. No, it isn't the same Republican Party as today, but that WAS the name of Jefferson's party. Where do these doofuses come from?

I like the criticism that Woods condemns Woodrow Wilson and his decision to enter WWI. Is there anyone around still defending that decision? Hilarious. I also like "Woods blames the Great Depression on liberal social programs." Woods actually blames the Federal Reserve for the Great Depression, and Hoover and FDR's interventionist policies for making it so long. So what that a zillion other scholars are now saying the same thing. To a liberal today, this is enough to make you an "extremist," regardless of the evidence you have in your favor or the credentials you can boast.

I don't see any page on which Woods defends an abstract "right" to hold slaves. That would be a strange position for a libertarian like Woods to hold. But this is the kind of hysteria and irrationalism you can expect when you dare, like Woods, to ask serious and important questions. Even worse is that Woods is obviously quite prepared to ask and to answer these questions. He is a Harvard Ph.D. and holds his other degrees from Columbia. So instead of carefully answering Woods, he needs to be crushed, smeared, and destroyed. That is how these enemies of the truth operate. They hate their propaganda being exposed to the light.

It seems to me you have three choices: you can passively accept the establishment version of American history, you can actively defend that establishment view, like a good robot, against anyone who dares to question it, or you can THINK FOR YOURSELF, and go wherever the evidence takes you. Woods has more than enough qualifications to guide you through.

You can read about him at ThomasEWoods.com, though I don't know if he blogs anywhere.