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Essay of james loewen on lies my teacher told me
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There are certain criteria that must be fulfilled in order for a nonfiction book to be successful. The two criteria that we should judge all argumentative nonfiction by are well written anecdotes that capture the reader’s attention and well explained factual data that proves the author’s point. The book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen contains both of these criteria and as such is a successful nonfiction book. Loewen’s purpose in writing Lies My Teacher Told Me is to correct the inaccuracies in textbooks and to help students learn the truth about history. He uses anecdotes that provide insight about history and data that easily proves his point about inaccuracies in textbooks to achieve his goal of helping students gain knowledge.
Anecdotes are essential criteria to successful nonfiction books because they help the reader connect with the author and understand what the author is trying to prove. Furthermore they entertain the reader and keep them engaged in the book. Also they provide key examples and show the reader complex situations in a simple way; therefore, they are a critical component of argumentative nonfiction books.
Well explained data is another essential criterion to successful nonfiction books because they give the credible data that proves the authors claim and helps them understand what the author is trying to persuade them of. The data if well explained helps the reader understand difficult concepts that may be hard for them to grasp and it also helps convince the reader about the author’s claim. Furthermore it establishes a credible ethos for the author as they have hard proof backing their claim.
James W. Loewen was born and grew up in Decatur, Illinois and he graduated from MacArthur High School i...
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...e Homepage of James Loewen: Author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, and Sundown Towns." The Homepage of James Loewen: Author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, and Sundown Towns. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. .
Loewen, James W. "John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks." Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New, 1995. 160. Print.
Loewen, James W. "The Truth about the First Thanksgiving." Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New, 1995. 67. Print.
Loewen, James W. "Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government." Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New, 1995. 211-20. Print.
The AP Language and Composition course is purely designed to help students excel in their own stories, but more importantly, become more attentive to their surroundings. A conscientious goal, that would properly be attained through the collection of nonfiction paperbacks. Because of the purpose of this course and the current state of today’s children, one must undeniably agree that in selecting the “perfect book”, the overall idea of self-reliance would hold a prominent factor. This curriculum not only focuses on the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, but it attempts to make students distinguish how the world plays with the dialectic of persuasion, also known as the art of rhetoric. In doing so, this course aims at making students aware
O’Connor, K., Sabato, L. J., Yanus, A. B, Gibson, Jr., L. T., & Robinson, C. (2011). American Government: Roots and Reform 2011 Texas Edition. United States: Pearson Education, Inc.
Judith Viorst is an American journalist. Her essay “The Truth about Lying”, printed in Buscemi and Smith’s 75 Readings: An Anthology. In this essay, Viorst examines social, protective, peace-keeping and trust-keeping lies but doesn’t include lies of influence.
Lowi, Theodore J, et al. American Government Power & Purpose. 12th Ed. New York: W. W.
Story Time, by Edward Bloor, Harcourt: United States of America, 2001. 424 pages. Reviewed by Mar Vincent Agbay
Moraff,C. The Real History of Thanksgiving." Philadelphia Magazine (2012).p.n.d. Data retrieved from http://www.phillymag.com/news/2012/11/20/dark-origins-thanksgiving/ on May 6,2014.
Taylor, James Stacey. "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance." Public Affairs Quarterly July 2005: 227-246.
Ross, Michael E. "IN SHORT: NONFICTION." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.Aug 14 1988. ProQuest. Web. 2 Mar. 2014 .
Contrary to a common modern misconception, Lincoln did not believe that Negroes were equal to white men in regards to intellect or morals. In his fourth debate in Charleston, Illinois, he is direct...
Works Cited Lincoln, Abraham, Stephen A. Douglas, and Robert Walter Johannsen. The Lincoln-Douglas Debate of 1858. New York: Oxford UP, 1965. Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1997.
Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. The Reader’s Companion to American History. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991).
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
“In my estimation a good book first must contain little or no trace of the author unless the author himself is a character. That is, when I read the book I should not feel that someone is telling me the story but t...
Advancing further into history, accounts in 1855 (A.B. Berard, School History of the United States) and 1856 (Harper’s School History, Narrative of the General Course of History) also offer different portrayals of the same events despite their close proximity to one another. The 1855 account has a different interpretation of how the event gained excitement and it goes on to say that it was a “negro who had excited the disturbance.” The reference to “negro” was...
The History of ThanksgivingTopic: The History of ThanksgivingQuestion: What is the origin of Thanksgiving?Thesis: The History of Thanksgiving goes far back to 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast, which was the first Thanksgiving meal.September of 1620, a ship known as the Mayflower left Plymouth, England transporting over 100 passengers. These passengers were religious separatists and were seeking refuge in a new territory. Originally, they were headed to the Hudson River in New York, but due to erratic weather such as severe thunderstorms, they ended up in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts.1 They were greeted by the local Wampanoag Indian tribe, who befriended the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and brought them corn and turkey for the first Thanksgiving.2 They also offered them a bountiful harvest of Indian breads, seeds, etc. Throughout the course of time, the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest which then led to a three day