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Review
| History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray American History, by Dana Lindaman and Kyle Ward. New York: The New Press, 2004. 404 pages. $26.95, cloth.
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| "The American invaders who had been preparing for war for a long time, accompanied by their puppets.... Those bastards crossed the 38th parallel at dawn...yearning to invade the North under any pretense." This is not usually the kind of statement one finds when reading about the Korean War in a textbook on American history in the United States. It does appear, however, in a North Korean textbook for junior high school students in their study of United States history. This excerpt, taken from Dana Lindaman's and Kyle Ward's History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray American History, exemplifies the examples the editors have compiled from instructional materials used to teach American history in twenty countries, Although the reader is told from the outset that History Lessons offers a lighthearted and engaging challenge to the biases we bring to our understanding of American history, he is warned that he will also experience "a sobering glimpse into how the rest of the world views the past we take for granted." I found this prediction quite true. |
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The editors have divided History Lessons into seven traditional chronological eras beginning with the colonial period and ending with "modern times." Of the fifty subsections, only thirteen analyze events related to United States history up to the Civil War, less than thirty percent of the book. The editors have chosen to focus the bulk of their efforts on American military history especially foreign policy and war. Social and domestic history is almost totally lacking once the reader leaves the colonial period. The reader is first taken on a "lighthearted" tour of the new world, the new nation, and westward expansion, but then is plunged into the profoundly disturbing and troubling events of the twentieth century. The reader can feel the emotional, almost anti-American feelings which permeate the excerpts the editors offer for analysis. Philippine, Russian, Cuban, North Korean, and Saudi Arabian materials openly give scathing reviews of the events that occurred when the United States entered their realm of history. Even countries, such as France, Great Britain, and Canada, closely allied with the United States over the centuries, present critical accounts as they scrutinize American action in the Cold War, Viet Nam, and Nicaragua. The United States is seen as a unilateral bully who forced allies into situations where they felt they had no say. |
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In the introduction to History Lessons, the editors state that "Americans...seem to know relatively little about other countries and cultures," and that American textbooks are "rather bland" and have become "encyclopedias of historical names, places, and timelines." History has been reduced "to a series of inoffensive facts and figures...events in United States history are portrayed as if they occurred within a historical vacuum." Having asserted this the authors state that the purpose of their work is to take the reader one step forward to learn not only about other cultures and societies, but also to show how the United States is perceived by others. Where some events may be covered in United States textbooks in a sentence or paragraph, in foreign textbooks they may occupy pages. Foreign textbooks may even add detailed information in a rich narrative covering events totally left out of United States textbooks. Foreign textbooks often add depth; American textbooks go for coverage. Terminology another area of difference in textbooks. Foreign teaching materials use the correct terms such as "Sacred Alliance" or the "Society of Righteous Harmony" instead of the Holy Alliance or the "Boxers." |
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Lindaman's and Ward's editorship is commendable but uneven. At times, the reader is treated to a full paragraph of background analysis while in other sections there are only one sentence comments. Some topics, such as, "the Opening of Japan," receive one-totwo page reviews, while the Spanish-American war is given twelve pages. Late 19th century industrialization, urbanization, progressivism, and immigration are almost totally absent. Instead, the authors have chosen to focus on warfare, with 24 of the last 35 readings dealing with international conflicts. Presidents appear only as the commander in chief rather than as domestic leaders. No presidential election is covered. Nevertheless, History Lessons does offer a good study of historical bias and perspectives. For that it is a worthwhile read. |
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| Maryland Center for the Study of History |
James F. Adomanis |
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