Day 14 - A Non-Fictional Book
Being a history major, I've read a lot of non-fictional books (well, I guess they are mostly categorized as non-fiction. It's hard for anyone to report history and remain completely unbiased.)
Having said that, the non-fiction book I am writing on today is . . .
"Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Lowen.
The subtitle of this book is: "Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong". This book explains how a lot of textbooks gloss over the truth to make Americans look better. Meaning we didn't "discover a New World" - rather it existed and we destroyed it. Meaning most Americans couldn't tell you a thing about the Vietnam War because it is almost written out of most textbooks due to the controversy surrounding it (and indeed none of the textbooks profiled in this book showed any Americans doing anything wrong in Vietnam). This book puts a lot of "unmentionable" truth out there that many textbook writers just gloss over.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to objectively look at American History. It's tough for any American to do, but we're better because of it.
"He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins." --Frederick Douglass
Until next time . . .
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