Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong / Twentieth Anniversary Edition

Written by James W. Loewen

Narrated by L.J. Ganser

A fully updated and revised edition of the book USA Today called “jim-dandy pop history,” by the bestselling, American Book Award–winning author

From the author of the national bestseller Lies My Teacher Told Me, a completely updated—and more timely than ever—version of the myth-busting history book that focuses on the inaccuracies, myths, and lies on monuments, statues, national landmarks, and historical sites all across America.

In Lies Across America, James W. Loewen continues his mission, begun in the award-winning Lies My Teacher Told Me, of overturning the myths and misinformation that too often pass for American history. This is a one-of-a-kind examination of historic sites all over the country where history is literally written on the landscape, including historical markers, monuments, historic houses, forts, and ships. New changes and updates include:
• a town in Louisiana that was the site of a major but now-forgotten enslaved persons’ uprising
• a totally revised tour of the memory and intentional forgetting of slavery and the Civil War in Richmond, Virginia
• the hideout of a gang in Delaware that made money by kidnapping free blacks and selling them into slavery

Entertaining and enlightening, Lies Across America also has a serious role to play in contemporary debates about white supremacy and Confederate memorials.

“The most definitive and expansive work on the Lost Cause and the movement to whitewash history.”—Mitch Landrieu, mayor of New Orleans

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980042570

James W. Loewen

James W. Loewen (1942–2021) was the bestselling and award-winning author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus, Sundown Towns, and Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition (all from The New Press). He also wrote Teaching What Really Happened and The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White and edited The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader. He won the American Book Award, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, the Spirit of America Award from the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

Reviews for Lies Across America

[owen1218 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book does a good job of exposing disinformation on the American landscape. But on the whole I don't think it's very balanced. The section on the South is by far the largest, and a huge number of the historic sites under question relate to the Confederacy. I'm grateful to him for exposing these, although he would have done well to balance them with some lies told by the Union side. I also would have liked to see more lies regarding sites relating to American Indians, or the lack of appropriate sites.

I also agree with some critics of the book that he is sexist. For instance he actually has the gall to claim that women have historically had a higher status than men, as if men were somehow an oppressed group and women were the ruling class. And where he does talk about women being suppressed it's never by dominating men, but rather by "the social structure". Uh-huh. That's exactly the same sort of distancing he criticizes others of elsewhere. (I'm referring mostly to lie #6 here, which should be promptly torn from the book.)

[msbosh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

James Loewen is best known for his breakthrough "Lies My Teacher Told Me," a scathing attack on traditional history textbooks for their superficial, nationalist, pro-imperialist views. It's fine to teach students about all the great accomplishments of the courageous people who built this country, he argues. But we're doing them, and our ancestors, a disservice if we fail to also identify how and where we went wrong.

This newer book focuses on the many historic sites (such as all those plaques that tell various historical stories at rest-stops along the Interstate) that either gloss over what really transpired at those places, or are downright dishonest. He includes at least one site in each of the 50 states.

Among this reviewer's favorites is Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Visitors learn all about how she overcame her disabilities and became a national spokeswoman for disabled Americans. But there is no mention of Keller's radical politics. Since college, she was a radical socialist who fought hard for racial justice, women's rights, birth control, trade unions, and the First Amendment. The historical site managers' decision to omit the potentially controversial facts about Keller's life denies visitors an opportunity to think about complex isssues," Loewen writes. "It gives them an incomplete and, ultimately, inaccurate portrait of a fascinating, ambitious woman."

This book, along with "Lies my Teacher Told Me," and Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," offer readers an important, and too often overlooked, alternative view of this country, warts and all.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The "Lies" are mostly lies of omission. It's more about what is left out of information on historical sights.

[mike6l-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lies of omission is a more accurate title. I found this book to be a little disappointing. Perhaps it's my fault for misinterpreting the subject matter. I had assumed it dealt with information that was undeniably wrong or untrue. Presenting things inaccurate in fact rather than too concise or limited in scope.

The majority of the entries are not so much out and out "lies" as they are lies of omission or representative of events the author feels are insufficiently recognized. An example of the latter would be the "lie" of a marker that mentions a place where a woman was lynched for the crime of killing a man. Although the woman is misrepresented as having been white when she was actually Spanish the author feels the bigger "lie" is that it bothers to mention the woman at all while many other lynchings (throughout the history of the country not as part of the same incident) involving men as victims are not commemorated at all.

There are representations of factual inaccuracies but most entries are "lies" only to the extent that they don't tell a complete version of the story. Not so much lies as edited (sanitized) versions. Maybe I'm being too optimistic or charitable to the average American's intelligence but I believe many of them are fairly obvious in their limitations and don't necessarily require someone pointing out that they tell only one side of a story.

Initially I found the writing to be dry and somewhat hard to connect with but as I got deeper into the book that became less of an issue. Either I became more accustomed to the author's style, or more engrossed in the subject matter. Or, quite possibly, I went in with some bias and resentment from the fact that I felt (and still do) the book had been misrepresented thus my first impression was simply wrong.

As far as the overly politically correct attitude, apologist or anti-white overtones that others have referenced... one could definitely interpret it that way. It has more to do with the underlying theme of presenting a larger picture that represents the entire story in my opinion. Although there are points where it certainly felt to me as though the author was beating me over the head with his personal ideology (even though I agree with most of it). I also found the semantics over what constitutes "discovery", "wilderness" and "civilization" to be condescending, and overly simplistic.

Some of the stronger -- and more interesting in my opinion -- passages in the book are actually related to the origins of the monuments themselves and the bias of those sponsoring them. Particularly the ones that relate to the various Confederate memorials throughout the country. Once I got around the 'beating a dead horse' aspect of repeating much of the same comments on racial injustices, prejudices, etc. that had been previously stated elsewhere in the book I found them to be highly informative as to the general attitudes of the people and times in which they were created.

All in all it's not a bad book. Is it heavy handed? Oh, yes, very much so in some parts. Is it informative? Absolutely.

[mjgrogan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’ll bet the United Daughters of the Confederacy didn’t love this book. I will say that I didn’t love it either – though certainly not for the same reasons. As something of a follow up to his investigation into the dismal state of public school US History textbooks, Loewen sets his sights on the questionable state of monuments, markers, and historical plaques scattered throughout the US. It’s a valiant effort, and certainly makes for a clear thesis about how misinterpretations and misinformation dominates the landscape’s “official” history.

Two primary – or oft repeated – false narratives emerge. First (and influencing Loewen’s West-to-East chapter counter-structure) there is the strong, Eurocentric (or WASP-centric) thinking dominates our selective story about how whites “settled” the US starting in Massachusetts and transitioned throughout the “wild” west over the ensuing centuries. This obviously ignores the millions of Native Americans already firmly settled – most were not nomadic – everywhere and even the Spaniards who had already plundered (and thus “settled”) the whole southern strip of what is now the US. Ironically the South doesn’t emerge in the official tale until after Reconstruction, when suddenly the Confederate States of America was no longer about maintaining slavery but now a valiant effort to maintain states rights and “Southern Culture” and – if the markers/memorials portray slavery at all – it wasn’t so bad as evidenced by “The Good Darky” statues and other stories about how satisfied southern blacks obviously were under such a sensible structure.

Loewen unearths other erroneous examples (a few examples from the Spanish…um…that is…The Philippines-American War) and even explores some museums and exhibits to highlight how the omission of part of a story, or some cautious wording can turn a murderous tragedy into a celebration of the murderer. I found it all very interesting but, as there were so many individual examples, it came off a bit choppy compared to his Lies My Teacher Told Me. This read more like a guide book – which, I suppose, was an intentional reader option – but it somehow felt simultaneously less diverse yet also less focused than his previous book. The two narratives dominate and other examples of incredulity show up once or get much less attention.

Whatever, I’ve never even visited a number of these states – and the individual examples are well selected – so Four Stars! But if you have time for only one Loewen book, I recommend his previous effort.

[alera_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love history, and I love historic sites, so this book called out to me from the moment I saw it. Now like all history, it's told with a slant of opinion by the author itself, but past that, I feel it's very fleshed out, and deals well with explaining many things that historic sites do in fact ignore or gloss over. It's also a refreshing glimpse across the country. I learned a couple things I didn't know. I remembered some things I had forgotten. I researched some things on my own to learn more. And it was easy to read. All in all, it was everything a book about history should be.

[doowatt34 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow what can you say about a great history piece except…I really liked it. The author did research that was surely different. Basically he delved into whether the historic signage across the US was accurate. And like most historical research, most academic research, and anything else in our archives brought forth most were not. Examined were the accuracy in telling the stories of previous occupants of historic places such as plantations, some museums were profiled and battlefield signage examined. And, some historical figures and events needed to be brought forth with signage.

First the fascinating….

History tale #10Hickison Summit…the marker, petroglyphs left by so called prehistoric people in Nevada that show commonalities with the folk of South Africa and the folk of Australia, the author concluding that with current knowledge no one really knows what petroglyphs are nor what they meant, yet the signage leads one to believe otherwise.

History tale #14,…many names on markers for American Indians are derogatory such as Apache meaning enemies, Papagos meaning bean eater, Pimas meaning I don’t know…theses names were learned from others or from tribal enemies, or were names assigned, then just stuck over the years, some were simply developed…

History tale #63, the spies Van Lew and Bowser, in need of a marker…Elizabeth Van Lew born in Richmond was a spy for the Union , risked her reputation, life and wealth crossing into confederate territory and developed a spy ring, help prisoners escape, recruited Mary Bowser, a black woman with a photographic memory, whom she help get placed at the confederate white house as a spy.

The sad …

Some of the biggest proliferators of myths and lies are the united daughters of the confederacy and sons of confederate veterans. With a memorial in Montana History tale #15 to confederate soldiers in a state that had no confederate soldiers, is a disservice. This was done in an effort to promote respectability…At a museum History tale#20 takes place in Oklahoma. There is a room that worships the confederates, a sham in OK because the state had good race relations at the time between 1865 - 95. The civilized tribes had supported the confederacy thus the US subjected them to reconstruction by requiring them to grant freedom, land, tribal membership to their former slaves…

The tragic….

History tale #36 the confederates mass hanging of folk for allegedly conspiring to commit treason, History tale #44 ex-confederates overpowered a militia and massacred the men during the reconstruction phase of history, History tale #53 fort pillow, mass slaughter of Union regiment by N B Forrest more like genocide not war even though the men surrendered.

History tale #57 The Beech Island Agricultural Club… whose purpose it was to keep slaves inline, by maintaining the police state, and helped by the likes of South Carolina guvena James Hammand, happy slave theorist, slave owner, religious persecutor, labor exploiter, child rapist, who molested both men and women , complete with sadomasochistic behavior needs an accurate sign…

The Philippine American War sold to the public as the Spanish War where possibly 700,000 people, call niggers and gooks, lost their lives in an array of genocidal massacres, that perpetuated colonialism. History tale #25, is serving the cause of humanity needs accurate signage and an overhaul….

These are just a few of the tidbits waiting for you as true history will unfold one state at a time. The research is very good and as comprehensive as one can get w/o being boring.

[omniavanitas_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I got this a while ago because I like obscure historical sites. It's interesting at points, but the material is a bit thin. Some entries are a bit of a stretch. The author finds sources of outrage everywhere.

[crowyhead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is fascinating and enlightening, and has reminded me to take everything I read -- even if it's on an historical marker -- with a grain of salt.