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Cover image for book Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History

Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History

By:James W. Loewen
Publisher:Teachers College Press
Print ISBN:9780807759486
eText ISBN:9780807777312
Edition:2
Copyright:2018
Format:Reflowable

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"The revised edition of Loewen’s book builds upon the first edition by applying these principles to contemporary circumstances. For example, a new chapter addresses post-truth politics and the Trump presidency. This makes Loewen’s work more valuable than ever for students, educators, and communities." —Teachers College Record

“Should be in the hands of every history teacher in the country.”— Howard Zinn

James Loewen has revised Teaching What Really Happened, the bestselling, go-to resource for social studies and history teachers wishing to break away from standard textbook retellings of the past. In addition to updating the scholarship and anecdotes throughout, the second edition features a timely new chapter entitled "Truth" that addresses how traditional and social media can distort current events and the historical record. Helping students understand what really happened in the past will empower them to use history as a tool to argue for better policies in the present.

Our society needs engaged citizens now more than ever, and this book offers teachers concrete ideas for getting students excited about history while also teaching them to read critically. It will specifically help teachers and students tackle important content areas, including Eurocentrism, the American Indian experience, and slavery.

Book Features:

  • An up-to-date assessment of the potential and pitfalls of U.S. and world history education.
  • Information to help teachers expect, and get, good performance from students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • Strategies for incorporating project-oriented self-learning, having students conduct online historical research, and teaching historiography.
  • Ideas from teachers across the country who are empowering students by teaching what really happened.
  • Specific chapters dedicated to five content topics usually taught poorly in today’s schools.

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