Lies My Teacher Told Me

[silverfox]

This looks interesting.

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3159267

[peter_mary]

...and highly recommended.

My daughter gave me this book last year for Father's Day, and it's a very interesting read. Many who are already intimately familiar with the quirks and idosyncracies of American history (i.e. they've studied it extensively from some perspective OTHER than a high school history curriculum) might find that it's nothing new. But the rest of us, who avoided history all through school, will find it very, very interesting.

I did.

Here's one of the take-aways for me, though. History is absolutely the subjective realm of the history teller, not some objective list of facts. Now, I knew this already when I read the book, but it really underscores that idea and shows the reader how it works.

When you read this book, you realize that Mormon history is in fact no different than American history in the manner in which it is written, preserved and passed along to the next generation. Except there is this one tiny detail: you don't get kicked out of the country if you want to talk about the ugly sides of our history along with the heroic and progressive sides. And that makes all the difference.

One of the principle roles that history plays in any culture is as propaganda to help keep the community feeling a sense of unity and power in belonging to the community. The same is true whether you are a church or a nation. This book does a great job of demonstrating HOW that works, using American history as the test case. YOU will have NO problem making the comparitive study with Mormon history (or any other history you happen to be very familiar with).

Good book. I recommend it highly.

Peter_Mary