Well, for me, it’s a book I’m reading… Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen–what is simultaneously an American History book and a slam on the way history is taught in schools. I was a great candidate to do this reading because I went to a terrible school and my high school history text book was ranked one of the “10 Worst” by reader’s digest.
I find the truth far more fascinating than I ever found the white-washed version of history served up in school:
I learned that all those “Great Feats in World Navigational History” we learned about were really "Great Feats in European Navigational History – people from other cultures had achieved these things centuries before Europeans did.
I learned that the first colony in what would later become the U.S. was founded by a group of abandoned slaves–Africans.
I learned that Native American indigenous culture has had a far greater impact on the shape of our country than we often give credit for, and there is even reason to believe that our own ideals of democracy were influenced by the Iroquois League of Nations. The “Boston Tea Party” culprits were not “disguised” as Indians–they dressed as Indians because to many, this was a symbol of freedom and fairness. Many, many European colonists defected to live with indigenous folks and adapt their ways.
I learned that Christopher Columbus was not just an ignorant bystander, but openly committed atrocities against the Haitians and other parts of Latin America–not just killing them, but raping them, enslaving them, cutting off pieces of their bodies, burning them alive, etc. Him and his ilk treated the indigenous people so horribly that there were frequent mass suicides (100 or more people at once) and accounts of women dropping their infants on the ground so their escape would not be hindered by the burden of a child.
I learned that European colonists did not enslave people because they were racist–they became racist because they enslaved people–and furthermore, our particular version of slavery was one of the most incomprehensibly brutal versions in world history, so “other people had slaves too” is a terrible excuse.
I learned that due to the long, exhaustive trek across Siberia in order to get to North America, the cold had basically killed off most germs and indigenous folks were virtually disease–and immunity–free. Their sparse population also prevented the spread of diseases. When they met up with the Europeans thousands of years later, they were sitting ducks for smallpox. When 99% of the colonists’ local community of indigenous people dropped dead from smallpox, the colonists saw it as a Miracle Sign From God that the New World was theirs for the taking–and didn’t hesitate to settle down in Massachusetts in the former community that indigenous folks had already built.
Yes… I’m learning very much. It’s a fascinating, well-researched book. Most of his sources are direct source materials–the words that Christopher Columbus, the King, or other historical figures wrote in their account of things.
…and still learning more… What a great book!