James Loewen Biography – Wiki
James Loewen was a progressive author, known for discrediting the truth about the history of the United States, who passed away. His book “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything That Wrong in Your American History Textbook”, published in 1995, changed the concept of history. According to Loewen himself, the book aimed to challenge the Eurocentric and white vision of the American past. The tragic news of his passing on Friday, August 20, was confirmed by his editor. He took his last breath at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
Age
James Loewen has died at the age of 79-years-old.
Book(Lies My Teacher Told Me)
Loewen is best remembered for his incomparable 1995 book, which became one of the most sought-after history books among students.
His book “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything That Wrong in Your American History Textbook”, published in 1995, changed the concept of history. According to Loewen himself, the book aimed to challenge the white, Eurocentric vision of the American past. The tragic news of his passing on Friday, August 20, was confirmed by his editor. He breathed his last on him at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
Loewen is best remembered for his incomparable 1995 book, which became one of the most sought-after history books among students. The book consists of famous chapters such as The Truth About the First Thanksgiving Day, Gone with the Wind: The Invisibility of American Racism in American Textbooks, and Seeing No Evil: Choosing Not to Look at the war in Vietnam. ‘ Such a new perspective on the elements that defined American society and culture almost created a revolution in the classroom. Most of his findings were based on extensive research he conducted during his fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution.
During a 2018 interview with NPR, Loewen revealed that he was inspired to write the book during his teaching days at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Known for his rich black history, Loewen had to rethink common historical ideas when he asked his students to share his thoughts on Reconstruction. “And what happened to me was an ‘A-ha’ experience, although you’d better consider it an ‘Oh no’ experience: 16 of my 17 students said, ‘Well, the rebuilding was the period immediately after the Civil War. when Blacks took over the government of the southern states. But they came out of slavery too early, so they screwed up and the whites had to take control again. My little heart sank, “he had shared during the interview.
The 1995 book sold more than 1 million copies. He also published the sequels of the book titled “Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus”, “Lies in America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong” and “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers Edition”. Some of his other outstanding books include ‘Teaching What Really Happened, ‘The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White’ and his memoirs Up a Creek, With a Paddle’.
Loewen had also criticized textbook authors for overlooking the history of the grassroots, the history of the union, for example. He believed that the existing textbooks were compiled in such a way as to give students the false impression that the mistreatment of workers “happened a long time ago, like slavery, and that, like slavery, it was corrected long ago.”.
Despite his incredible success as an author and scholar, “fatherhood was his happiest role,” as Loewen mentioned in his own previously written obituary.
Cause of Death
Progressive author James W Loewen, known for debunking the truth about American history, died at the age of 79.
James Loewen had been diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer in 2019 and succumbed to the disease after a protracted three-year battle for survival. After the diagnosis, he even began compiling his own obituary to make sure his life was accurately described after his death.
“Having received a diagnosis in 2019 of metastatic bladder cancer with muscle invasion, Stage IV, with a survival prognosis just below 1% after three years, he began to put his affairs in order. One part was writing ‘Notes to an obituary, “reads a note on the author’s website. He only had about a one percent chance of surviving the ailment.
