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zesmerelda's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
4.0
Essay collection on various falsehoods that persist in our collective convo, namely voter fraud & the "failures" of the new deal. Well worth reading to round out facts you may have gleaned elsewhere.
clagerwey's review against another edition
4.0
This was overall an excellent collection of essays by some of my favorite historians that addressed really important topics well.
I appreciated how they didn't pull punches when calling out modern misuses of history, yet there were times when the book felt a little too much like its goal was scoring partisan points, rather than correcting history. The essays were accurate and many authors correctly pointed out the widespread misuse of history by the contemporary right, but I would have appreciated some balance--without creating a false equivalency--that called out some of the myths or misconceptions about history often found among the political left. As others have said, there is also the issue of some of the "myths" simply being matters of interpretation or of lesser-known history; while all chapters were legitimate historical discourses, some took on myths that were actually widespread fabrications of history created by dishonest actors.
Particular highlights for me include the chapters on "Founding Myths" by Akhil Reed Amar, "The New Deal" by Eric Rauchway, "The Southern Strategy" by Kevin M. Kruse, "The Good Society" by Joshua Zeitz, and "The Good Protest" by Glenda Gilmore.
Honorable mentions for summarizing excellent books I've read go to Ari Kelman's "Vanishing Indian" for being a shorter summary of [b:The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present|36620482|The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Native America from 1890 to the Present|David Treuer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513714679l/36620482._SY75_.jpg|58380027], to "Immigration" by Erika Lee for being a shorter version of her [b:America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States|44287174|America for Americans A History of Xenophobia in the United States|Erika Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553111919l/44287174._SY75_.jpg|68805021], to "The United States is an Empire" by Daniel Immerwahr for being a shorter version of his [b:How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States|40121985|How to Hide an Empire A History of the Greater United States|Daniel Immerwahr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627757585l/40121985._SX50_.jpg|62223068], to Karen L. Cox's "Confederate Monuments" for summarizing her [b:No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice|55840928|No Common Ground Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice|Karen L. Cox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605029420l/55840928._SY75_.jpg|87057763] and [b:Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|2175081|Dixie's Daughters The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|Karen L. Cox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348795456l/2175081._SX50_.jpg|2180738], to Elizabeth Hinton's "Police Violence" and its connections to her book [b:America On Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s|55298326|America On Fire The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s|Elizabeth Hinton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628884033l/55298326._SY75_.jpg|86235679], to Carol Anderson's "Voter Fraud" that summarized parts of her books [b:White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|26073085|White Rage The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456093492l/26073085._SY75_.jpg|46010383] and [b:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy|36711317|One Person, No Vote How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530527943l/36711317._SY75_.jpg|58508066].
I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to debunk bad history a la Dinesh D'Souza, but especially history educators and instructors: it ably summarizing a lot of really important recent scholarship and portions can easily be assigned to secondary or undergraduate classes.
I appreciated how they didn't pull punches when calling out modern misuses of history, yet there were times when the book felt a little too much like its goal was scoring partisan points, rather than correcting history. The essays were accurate and many authors correctly pointed out the widespread misuse of history by the contemporary right, but I would have appreciated some balance--without creating a false equivalency--that called out some of the myths or misconceptions about history often found among the political left. As others have said, there is also the issue of some of the "myths" simply being matters of interpretation or of lesser-known history; while all chapters were legitimate historical discourses, some took on myths that were actually widespread fabrications of history created by dishonest actors.
Particular highlights for me include the chapters on "Founding Myths" by Akhil Reed Amar, "The New Deal" by Eric Rauchway, "The Southern Strategy" by Kevin M. Kruse, "The Good Society" by Joshua Zeitz, and "The Good Protest" by Glenda Gilmore.
Honorable mentions for summarizing excellent books I've read go to Ari Kelman's "Vanishing Indian" for being a shorter summary of [b:The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present|36620482|The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Native America from 1890 to the Present|David Treuer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513714679l/36620482._SY75_.jpg|58380027], to "Immigration" by Erika Lee for being a shorter version of her [b:America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States|44287174|America for Americans A History of Xenophobia in the United States|Erika Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553111919l/44287174._SY75_.jpg|68805021], to "The United States is an Empire" by Daniel Immerwahr for being a shorter version of his [b:How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States|40121985|How to Hide an Empire A History of the Greater United States|Daniel Immerwahr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627757585l/40121985._SX50_.jpg|62223068], to Karen L. Cox's "Confederate Monuments" for summarizing her [b:No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice|55840928|No Common Ground Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice|Karen L. Cox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605029420l/55840928._SY75_.jpg|87057763] and [b:Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|2175081|Dixie's Daughters The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|Karen L. Cox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348795456l/2175081._SX50_.jpg|2180738], to Elizabeth Hinton's "Police Violence" and its connections to her book [b:America On Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s|55298326|America On Fire The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s|Elizabeth Hinton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628884033l/55298326._SY75_.jpg|86235679], to Carol Anderson's "Voter Fraud" that summarized parts of her books [b:White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|26073085|White Rage The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456093492l/26073085._SY75_.jpg|46010383] and [b:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy|36711317|One Person, No Vote How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530527943l/36711317._SY75_.jpg|58508066].
I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to debunk bad history a la Dinesh D'Souza, but especially history educators and instructors: it ably summarizing a lot of really important recent scholarship and portions can easily be assigned to secondary or undergraduate classes.