Top James W. Loewen Quotes

James W. Loewen Biography

James William Loewen (born February 6, 1942) is an American sociologist, historian, and author, best known for his 1995 book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, which was republished in 2008.

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James W. Loewen Quotes

The world, of course, doesn't come divided into disciplines. The world just is.

Courses, Discipline, Disciplines, Divided, World

You go to towns in Massachusetts, Greenfield, first settled in 1686. Wouldn't it be cool if it said, "Greenfield. First settled c. 13,000 B. P. or approximately 13,000 Before the Present. Resettled. " Maybe we could say even, "Resettled by whites," Or, "Resettled anyway, 1686. " It would have a different impact. And of course it would help explain why the town is called Greenfield, because it was a green field and the fields were left by Native people who had already been farming them.

Green, Green Fields, Impact, People, Town

Unfortunately, marketing textbooks is like marketing fishing lures: the point is to catch fishermen, not fish. Thus many adopted textbooks are flashy to catch the eye of adoption committees but dull when read by students.

Adoption, Committees, Eye, Fishing, Like, Students

Textbooks should show that neither morality nor immorality can simply be conferred upon us by history. Merely being part of the United States, without regard to our own acts and ideas, does not make us moral or immoral beings. History is more complicated than that.

Conferred, Doe, Ideas, Part, Regard, United States

Textbooks are written in an oracular monotone, so that they claim to be true and important.

Claim, Claims, Important, Oracular, Textbooks, True

I don't think teachers read the textbooks. And I don't think adoption committees read the textbooks before they adopt them. I think they look at them.

Adoption, Committees, Teacher, Think, Thinking

I'm looking forward to the future, which is a good thing, because it's coming.

Coming, Good, Good Things, Looking Forward, Looking Forward To The Future, Thing

In sum, U. S. history is no more violent and oppressive than the history of England, Russia, Indonesia, or Burundi - but neither is it exceptionally less violent.

England, Oppressive, Russia, Violent

Teachers need to teach the subject rather than to teach the textbook.

Needs, Subject, Teach, Teacher, Teachers, Textbooks

It is always useful to think badly about people one has exploited or plans to exploit.

Badly, Exploit, People, Plans, Thinking

People have a right to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. Evidence must be located, not created, and opinions not backed by evidence cannot be given much weight.

Creating, Evidence, Located, People, Weight

There is no excuse for these 1,152 page textbooks.

1152, Excuse, No Excuses, Pages, Textbooks

Students will start finding history interesting when their teachers and textbooks stop lying to them.

History, Interesting, Lying, Teacher, Textbooks

Many Americans have never owned a book. And others have never owned a non-fiction book. Providing them with a 300-page paperback would get them started, maybe. And even if it didn't, at least they'd own that one. So that's a serious problem.

Americans, Book, Fiction, Pages, Serious

We still have to realize that if you are say a historian of the Civil War, you don't know anything special about say Columbus or for that matter the 20th century. You are a consumer of that information, especially if it's stuff like Columbus and the American Indians. That information isn't even in history, much of it. Much of it is in anthropology or archeology.

20Th, Columbus, Information, Say, Special, War

Many Americans have never owned a book, and I'm not talking about because of the recent digital revolution. I'm talking about before there even was a digital revolution.

Book, Digital, Digital Revolution, Revolution, Talking

The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history but honest and inclusive history.

Antidote, Feel Good, Feels, History, Honest

Native Americans are not and must not be props in a sort of theme park of the past, where we go to have a good time and see exotic cultures. “What we have done to the peoples who were living in North America” is, according to anthropologist Sol Tax, “our Original Sin.

Done, Exotic, Native American, Parks, Past, Props

History can be a weapon, and it can be used against you.

Against, History, Used, Weapon, Weapons

Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat the eleventh grade.

Condemned, Eleventh, History, Infancy Is, Past, Remember

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James W. Loewen Biography

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