America Revised: History Schoolbooks in the Twentieth Century

Frances FitzGerald gained fame as a result of her book, "Fire in the Lake" (1972) when she brilliantly argued that the U.S. stumbled into Vietnam, and continued to stumble and fail for years, because of its inability to understand the history and psychology of the people who lived in the area. This 1979 book, "America Revised," turns her analytical capabilities on the manner in which we have understood our own history. She traces the evolution of the development of history textbooks and the debates over them through the years. The result is a fascinating portrait of the manner in which we define ourselves by what we teach our children about our past. What FitzGerald finds is that for most people the history taught in secondary, and even universities, was consciously constructed to enhance the citizenship of the populace. The definition of enhanced citizenship might differ in time and space, but fundamentally it has emphasized a traditional vision of the American past in which a consensus interpretation--a one nation, one people emphasis--has been the norm rather than a story that is filled with conflict and counter narratives. The fierceness of the debate over what is contained in history textbooks, and therefore what is taught in school, results from the need to redefine national identity and a concern that the bulwarks of traditional conceptions may be crumbling. This has recast historical inquiry as an intellectual battleground where the casualties are no longer theories about the past that matter mostly to historians but the overall "weltanschauung" of society in a post-modern, multicultural, anti-hierarchical age. Since the 1960s, as FitzGerald makes clear, Americans have been seeking to understand an identity that is more multicultural, less hierarchical, and decidedly partisan. It was a coordinated effort. The author highlights the work of one group of reformers known as "The New Social Studies Movement," which urged the teaching of a more varied form of history in which race, ethnicity, class, and gender emerged as core areas of analysis. This represented, according to FitzGerald, "the most dramatic rewriting of history ever to take place" in America (p. 58). In contrast, throughout most of American history, albeit with some challenge over time, most Americans have viewed their past as exceptionalistic, nationalistic, and triumphant. This consensus interpretation celebrated the long tradition of shared American ideals and values while de-emphasizing conflict, and that made the United States and the people that made it up somehow better. Its advocates questioned the ideas and people who challenged those cherished principles, seeing in many of them strains of authoritarianism, anarchy, and narrow- and simple-mindedness of all varieties. "America Revised" is a powerful exploration of the politics of history textbook writing, publishing, and adoption. It also helps to show how the politics of history affect our children and educational

This book raises questions of conspiracy with its story of how history is altered according to the times and whims (?) of the few. I recommend this book for anyone studying history, and anyone who wants to know "the truth."