American as Apple Pie

On April 12, less than a month from now, I have opted to take the state's history exam. Why? Because in order to teach 8th grade history next year(one of my options), I have to prove to the state that I'm not a moron. That should be no sweat, right?

Well, here's the fun part.
The state test covers the following:
1. Ancient civilizations (including Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Middle Eastern....)
2. American history from colonial expansion until roughly present times.
3. Ecomonics
4. Geography

Basically, I need to know everything until to the foundation of America, and then all of America's history. Pfft. Piece of cake!

To help me study, I bought a stack of fantastic books that promised to help me unearth the lies of history books, teach me the scandalous events never mentioned, and show me the light quickly and easily. One particular textbook guarenteed to teach me America's history in 24 hours. Did it help? Yes, yes it did. But it also made me absolutely furious.

A couple points of interest. The author had a tendency, in his easily digestible chapters, to leave out what I consider important information. He could have mentioned the Oregon Trail. He could have mentioned the Louis and Clark Expedition. He didn't. You know what else he failed to mention? The Holocaust.

An entire chapter is devoted to WWII, and yet, mysteriously, the author leaves the Holocaust out. In ONE SENTENCE describing the Nuremburg Trials after the war, the author describes people being found guilty of war crimes such as "the genocide of jews, slavs..." etc. And this is the only mention. The author defines WWII as being a war of good versus evil. I can't help but ponder... which side does he see as good?

More evidence that said author is a biased, incompetent sludge-face:
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor (which was also historically inaccurate) he describes Executive Order: 9066. Japanese internment. Okay, I'm thinking, good. The author isn't going to skip over that.

But then I read this sentence: "Life in these centers was as American as apple pie, they even had Boy Scout troops."


WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I nearly threw the book across the room. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that slavery was a cushy profession as well.

So, now I'm worried that everything I read up to that point could have been riddled with bs as well. Maybe what I now know about the Monroe Doctrine and the Missouri Compromise and the freaking Battle at the Alamo.. maybe its all wrong too.

It's a damn good thing I bought so many other books. And its a damn good thing there's Wikipedia. (OH CRAP! Maybe he wrote things for wikipedia too... Crap, crap!)

So, in the end, after I pass my test with flying colors (keeping my fingers crossed), I think I'll write Mr. Davenport a letter. Let him know that his take on history makes me glad to be a teacher. I can imagine using his book in my classes. To teach my kids not about, oh the Holocaust, or anything about history really.... but not to trust everything they read.