Lies My Teacher Told Me

seacoast. These he would observe in the earliest stage of association, living under no law but that of nature.... He would next ...

corners of the world.” Thus, the idea of American exceptionalism—the United States as the best country in the world—which starts ...

stratification. In reality “development” has been making Third World nations poorer, compared to the First World. Per capita inc ...

earning a lot of money or driving an expensive car implies that one is a more valued member of society. Sociologists routinely f ...

Since textbooks do not discuss ideas, it is no surprise that they fail to address the changes in American thinking resulting fro ...

tractors and trucks and air-conditioning, but also for fertilizers and herbicides. Given these circumstances, most social and na ...

living is imperiled: work harder. This meant redoubling their efforts to take more of the few crabs and oysters still out there. ...

around the world has dropped by nearly 50 percent over the past fifty years. If environmentally caused, this is no laughing matt ...

do nothing whatever to prepare Americans of the future to think imaginatively about the problem. Continued unthinking allegiance ...

of modern society. Authors should have shown trends in the past that suggest we face catastrophe and other trends that suggest s ...

cause even faster warming. As the polar ice caps melt, for example, they no longer reflect the sun’s rays, so the earth absorbs ...

Canaries, that irreparably damaged their ecosystems.^44 “Considering the beauty of the land,” Christopher Columbus wrote on firs ...

imported 35 percent of its petroleum, while in 2005 we imported 58 percent. To expect textbooks published around 1990 to treat g ...

far more than any other nation. Journey hedges: air pollution “could be a factor.” And four books never mention the subject.^47 ...

also the last American president who was not a member of a Christian denomination when taking office. Americans may not be becom ...

I believe, have cut down more trees in America than any other name!” boasted John Adams. Benjamin Lincoln, a Revolutionary War g ...

students oblivious to merit in present-day societies other than our own. To conclude that other cultures have achieved little ab ...

technological and economic developments, could also be considered. Today’s children may see the decline of the nation-state, for ...

tradition of resilience and resourcefulness to draw on.” Many students are not so easily reassured. According to a 1993 survey, ...

defeat, however. By implying that no real questions about our future need be asked and no real thinking about trends in our hist ...