James W. Loewen, wrote 'Lies My Teacher Told Me,' dead at 79

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy James W. Loewen, whose million-selling “Lies My Teacher Told Me” books challenged traditional ideas and knowledge on everything from Thanksgiving to the Iraq War, has died. "Achieving justice in the present helps us tell the truth about the past.” Loewen's “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” was published in 1995 and became a favorite of students and former students as it challenged what Loewen considered a white, Eurocentric view of the past. A Publishers Weekly review called “Lies My Teacher Told Me” a “politically correct critique of 12 American history textbooks” that was “sure to please liberals and infuriate conservatives.” He continued the series with “Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus,” “Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong” and “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition" and revised the original work in 2018, during the Donald Trump administration. His other books included “Teaching What Really Happened,” “The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White” and the memoir “Up a Creek, With a Paddle.” The New Press will publish a graphic edition in 2023 of “Lies My Teacher Told Me,” which Loewen had been working on with artist Nate Powell, who had collaborated with Rep. John Lewis on his acclaimed “March” graphic trilogy.