History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling Over the Last 200 Years

by Kyle Ward

From the widely acclaimed co-author of History Lessons , an examination of how the way we tell the story of our country has changed over time.

In this absorbing look at how the telling of American history has changed over the past three hundred years, historian Kyle Ward juxtaposes excerpts from U.S. history textbooks of different eras to compare how the same event or historical figure has been portrayed differently at different times in our nation's history.

From the Boston Massacre to antebellum slavery, the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor to the stock market crash of 1929, Ward uncovers unexpected and often dramatic shifts of interpretation corresponding to prevailing attitudes at the time each textbook was written. History in the Making is the history of history—a stark reminder that even history itself changes over time.

For anyone whose view of history was turned on its ear by James Loewen's bestselling Lies My Teacher Told Me , here is striking, firsthand evidence of the shifting biases, politics, and cultural preferences in both our understanding of our own history and in what we teach our children about the past.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Education, American History

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Kyle Ward (b. 1969) is the director of the social studies education program at St. Cloud State University. He worked as a high school teacher for many years, teaching a variety of subjects. He is a co-author (with Dana Lindaman) of History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray U.S. History and the author of History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years and Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks, all published by The New Press.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does a history professor with way too much time on his hands do? If you're Mr. Ward, you compile a fascinating survey of how the telling of American history has changed over the past two hundred years. For each of 50 historical topics he has culled a half dozen or so excerpts from hundreds of history textbooks that demonstrate how both the general perception and specific interpretation of events has altered. Aside from a brief introduction on each topic and a sentence or two before each excerpt pointing out the particular value of that passage, Mr. Ward allows the period texts to speak for themselves.

Oddly, the lessons I took away from this book you won't find spelled out on the printed page. First of all, be skeptical. Don't accept what you read online or in newspapers today as the 100% accurate version of events. Perspectives can change so drastically that it's practically guaranteed that any analysis you read this morning will be strikingly different in as little as 5 or 10 years.

Secondly, everybody has an opinion. Even with honest intentions and best efforts to write an objective and balanced account, any single explanation will be incomplete. The only hope we have to start getting at the “real” story (understood through the prism of our own perspective, opinions, and experience, of course) is to gather information from multiple sources with varying viewpoints and then leave our minds open to accumulate and assimilate new data as it comes.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Jeff Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author presents excerpts from history books through the years. He highlights instances of changing emphasis and consistency. It was an interesting read. It is clear that history has long been used to make political points.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've heard that history keeps changing. This book shows how the narrative has either updated because of new information or possibly agendas. It follows the main topics in American History and is very well done. It was an eye opener for me.

[John St Clair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very interesting if you enjoy learning about history, but I recommend thumbing through the table of contents to pick and choose the chapters you would most like to read rather than consuming it as a whole.

[Emily]

This one's hard to rate - some parts were more enjoyable than others, either because they made for a more vivid story or because I was more familiar with the history. It's definitely a fascinating subject, especially seeing what has totally disappeared from history books and what has changed drastically. I often wished the author had provided a little more context, especially in the earlier years when a modern reader would be less familiar with the political/cultural context a book was being written in. But at the same time I respect that he's letting the passages speak for themselves. I also would have been interested to see texts written for younger kids (this book is mostly high school level).

definitely worth picking up and paging through, if you're into American history at all. it's easy to skip over episodes you find less interesting or jump around in time.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting - although I had some inkling that views and interpretations in history books have changed over the years, I had no idea how much they have. Some typos, though, and the author has the strange habit of marking things w/"sic" that were perfectly fine English at the time. Mr. history teacher/professor, language also changes over time!

p.s. This book made me continually miss, and want to talk to, my high school American History teacher, Mr. Phil Abalan. (R.I.P.) I think Mr. Abalan and Mr. Don Bates, two very different (but effective and inspirational) teachers, are the teachers who have influenced me as a teacher the most.

[Don]

This very readable book convincingly illustrates how history texts have changed as social and political attitudes evolve. The author sets the scene and explains the context of different tellings of many notable events, such as: Native American relations with the new settlers, Columbus's landing in the New World, Women in the Revolutionary War, African Americans and Reconstruction, McCarthyism, and Nixon in China.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in Ward's previous offering, History Lessons, it would have been more interesting if he had done more analysis on the reasons for the changing portrayals of his selected events rather than just copy-pasting the excerpts from different periods. It's difficult to justify continuing the read, particularly given everything still on my to-read list, without something more.

[Yveva · Rating 5 out of 5]

sections from history textbooks over the past 200 years grouped by topic. Great for illustrating how the story we tell of American history has changed over time.

[Leigh Minnier · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was very little analysis offered by the author. It was mostly just excerpts from different texts throughout the ages, which made it a bit of a dry read.

[Ashlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This book was really turned my brain into mush. Honestly, I don't know what to even think about certain things anymore.

I really liked the intro to the book which surprised me a lot. And this book isn't my typical read exactly. Instead of being about history, it's about how the way looking at history with bias has changed history throughout history. I know. Super confusing, but it's hard to explain.

The author, a history professor, wrote this book to get a couple of messages across.

Since textbooks aren't primary sources, they're not the most trustable historical sources out there. Firsthand accounts will very likely be more accurate than something written by a publishing company hundreds of years later.

But even when you get down to the original source, it's still fuzzy. How much of it is really true, and how much of it was written down to make a person/group/event look good? After all, they're human, so it would make sense that they might not have had the best or honest of motives.

Despite what lots of people believe, history can be sometimes the most confusing subject. It--in my opinion--has the more gray area than anything else learned in school. History is a lot of times based upon opinion and perception. As time continues, the reality of what actually has happened becomes distorted and certain parts are taken out of the story due to benefit people in someway (i.e. politics).

So, it's super important to read from multiple sources (that means the not-as-new ones too). This makes me wonder though. Out of all the history books and sources I've read, and all of what is said at museums and historical sites, what information is really true?😮

[David Christensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written by an author who was formerly a professor at the University in my town. It takes a unique look at the way our school history books have changed their way of story-telling of the many great events and social/political movements over the past 200 years. He’s provided excerpts from dozens of student history books dating back to the 1700’s … and he’s illustrated how the bias and the degree of fact-telling has changed. It proves that history is in the eye of the story teller. I think this book is thought provoking. He’s not indicting or blaming anyone … he’s merely opening our eyes that the stories of history that we consume are constantly changing with the times.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, perhaps a companion book to History Lessons (a book the author co-authored) looks at how U.S. history texts treated various historical events in different time periods. As in History Lessons, the facts are there, it just that interpretations differ, embellishments are added or deleted, and often lies are used instead of facts. While History Lessons looks at how other countries view events with the U.S. this work looks at how different 'generations' viewed historical events.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at how history is represented at various times in America.
The ending was abrupt with no final conclusions drawn.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done! Good and interesting range of topics and their differing treatments over the centuries or decades.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a great job of illustrating how our societies values have shaped the narrative of American history. Rather than tell us how history books have changed, Kyle uses actual excerpts from history books over the years. I found this format easy to read and appreciate that the reader can come to their own conclusions rather than rely solely on the authors opinions. A good book for students of all ages.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool book. Ward persuasively argues that textbooks are heavily influenced by the context within which they are written. He also illustrates how certain historical events have been dropped from textbooks (and our collective memory) entirely...like The Caroline Affair, The Dakota Conflict, and The Bataan Death March. Never heard of these events? Read the book and find out :)


A look at how history has been taught in textbooks for the past 200 years...right up my alley :)

[Narr · Rating 2 out of 5]

By no means an in-depth study of how history has been taught in American public schools. It would make a great drinking game for budding historians: every time they spot a difference they do a shot.

Otherwise, it'll be a book I reference when I talk about historiography and maybe pull a few examples from because it's easy.

[Steph Marbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of excerpts from U.S. textbooks, revealing how they taught 50 key points in American history over centuries or decades, and how the perspective of the teaching changed over those years. This is not an in-depth analysis of any topic...but a primer or overview, used to make the point that the telling of history is always far from "objective."

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect case studies for the budding student of Propaganda. History teachers of all grades should read this book -- as a budding teacher myself, I was interested to know how the publishing profession would impact my own work.

[Mscout · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointed in that it covers only high school texts, and doesn't get as deep into the historiography as I would have liked. Nor does it provide much in the way of explanation. Each topic consists of three paragraph-length synopses of different public school textbooks.

[Charles M.]

This could have been a most interesting book, but it lacks much depth in describing how the retelling of history in various texts has changed over the years. However, educators in social sciences may find this book helpful, etc.

[Amberly Engert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent about eight years at a private school. I would love to get my hands on those old textbooks.

[Trevor Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic bathroom reader! It's great to pick up at any point, read a quick bit of a specific date and put down again.

[Erik Anderson]

Gettn' Good....

[Heather Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and interesting sociological study of the writing of history.

[Jon]

sometimes you can judge a book by a cover, like when the title explains what it's all about pretty well

[Bonnie Carruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to see how historical events are written about in different decades.consciously or sub- consciously all writers have agendas.

[Raving Redcoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most interesting look at how history has changed through various school texts. Very readable, and quite fascinating.