Can History Be Unbiased?

This paper deals with ways history can be interpreted and influences different interpretations have on society and individuals. This is explored through

The study of history and the teaching of history has come under intense public debate in the United States in the last few decades. The “culture-wars” began with the call to add more works by non-Caucasians and women and has bled into the study of history. Not only in the study of history or literature, this debate has spread into American culture like wildfire.

1a. According to Loewen’s introduction, high school students hate history because nobody expects much from it. Many people are bored of history because we already know the ending of all the textbook’s “stories.” The textbooks have a monotone voice, and are technically clones of each other. Apparently history professions do not even review the textbooks in order to check if they have any historical mistakes in them. Also the authors of the textbooks wrote in them like there are still no debates about any of the topics, so students are not meant to question history. The textbooks are written through “white eyes” so they are biased and full of nationalism. Textbooks do not include

History is a remarkable subject that offers and eagles eye view into the past. With textbooks such as, Hist3, a great deal of interesting information can be acquired. However, a common misconception runs rampant through students minds; the idealism that history is useless and that the subject is that of a drag. Who can blame them? Our text books can only do so much in terms of providing the means in educating ourselves when we’re not in a class room and when given the opportunity to appear in class we have the luxury of (hopefully) having and interesting professor to enlighten us on all the side conflicts, affairs, and bloodshed that has happened. Even so, when we as students have exhausted the book and our instructors, we have the privilege

History can be an intricate and laborious subject to teach and learn. James W. Loewen, author, historian, and sociologist, is the perfect example of someone who appreciates the subject in all aspects, but knows how underestimated it is. As he says in Lies My Teacher Told Me, “Our educational media turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest” (Loewen 11). Throughout the book, he further elucidated the idea of that quote by introducing particular topics that deserved more details and acknowledgement. Loewen argues with enough reasoning from numerous textbooks that the writers aren’t involving all facts that should be included to inform the students. Nearly all points

To begin, a major flaw in the way American history courses are taught is due to the fact that textbooks do not allow students to form their own opinions, for everything is presented as “fact”. This is exemplified through the way early American life is taught. For example, a controversial topic is the specific destination of the Mayflower during the Pilgrim’s journey to America. Some historians believe their arrival in Massachusetts was on purpose to be far from Anglican control in Virginia, while others believe violent storms lead them off track, or there were just navigation errors. The flaw then arises for all textbooks only pick one, and present it as fact to their readers for they believe it is the students’ only way to “learn” about the past (81).

I agree with Loewen because history textbooks present inaccurate versions of history by using specific language to influence the way students absorb the information and by painting history in a white, Eurocentric way, and because history teachers lack the interest and skills necessary to challenge what the textbooks

In author James W. Loewen’s book Lies My History Teacher Told: Everything American Textbooks Got Wrong, it is obvious that James Loewen is very passionate about making sure that people know that not all the history they are taught is true. He also claims that the history books have false information planted in them: “The stories the history textbooks sell are predictable; every problem has already been solved or is about to be solved” (Loewen pg. 3). Loewen’s voice throughout this book is powerful, fulfilling and persuasive as he tackles the problem off false history being taught to Americans.

History is such a significant thing in the United Sates, and to our counterparts all over around the world. It has many purposes that help advance us, and it creates a source to learn from what was successful and what was unsuccessful. History in simpler terms is a preservation of thought during a certain period of time, documented by a person. This is why, we have to think about how history has currently been documented and written. Often the source of our history comes from a person on one side, which usually is the more privileged side.

In the book “Lies My teacher Told Me”, Professor James, Loewen has criticisms of the misreading and deliberately forgotten of the figures, events, and social form in American history from American high school’s history textbooks. Also, he discussed why American history teacher cannot guide students to treat and study history in a positive attitude. From this book, I realized many lies in American history from textbook. However, distortion of contemporary history was not only in America, since other countries had the same situation as well. Many Chinese and Koreans points that some description in Japanese history textbook between 1905 and 1945 are full of prejudices and errors. Iran's textbook also denies Nazi for the massacre of the Jews.

After reading The Betrayal of History, I realize that most information that I have learned in history classes are incorrect. I believed that the historian is the only one who rewrites events in the history books. Also, I realized the author of the book is not the only one who writes facts and historical information on the book, but it turns out that others people and organization are controlling the publishing companies, and they have the ability to edit any information and events that they do not agree with. It is weird they do not want children to learn some words like imagine because it is similar to magic.

In his book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen discusses the inaccuracies of history textbooks. Centered along the theme of American patriotism, textbooks include false implications throughout their pages, and Loewen challenges history teachers to rise and discuss with their students the true nature of American events. These textbooks, becoming nonsensically thicker, deter students as writers fill them with inapplicable information. As these factors become more prominent with passing time, Loewen defends truth of the past and the spirit of historical study in his enlightening work.

Even if this investigation had more sources supporting the opposite perspective, a slight bias would still be present. One of the greatest challenges of history is maintaining

In a world that filled with disputes and disagreements, it is somehow difficult to describe a conflicting event in a neutral tone based on one’s own judgment, typically for those historians who attempted to examine the events occurred in the past. As a matter of fact, people’s perspectives may be influenced by many conditions such as their cultural identities, genders, religions, emotions etc. Therefore, it is more likely that historians tend to hold biased view that may affect their tone in neutrality. However, to what extent can historians, or more generally the people, learn the history from an unbiased and neutral perspective? In general, as long as people equally analyze the view points from both sides and take the position between

What is History? This is the question posed by historian E.H. Carr in his study of historiography. Carr debates the ongoing argument which historians have challenged for years, on the possibility that history could be neutral. In his book he discusses the link between historical facts and the historians themselves. Carr argues that history cannot be objective or unbiased, as for it to become history, knowledge of the past has been processed by the historian through interpretation and evaluation. He argues that it is the necessary interpretations which mean personal biases whether intentional or not, define what we see as history. A main point of the chapter is that historians select the facts they think are significant which ultimately