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Synopsis
In this seminal dissection of America's glorious past, James Loewen pulls back the "Stars & Stripes" to unveil the startling truth behind some disturbing historical fabrications that are still commonly taught in our high schools, and beyond. Beginning with the so-called "discovery" of the New World by the legendary Christopher Columbus, Loewen systematically reveals a tradition of racism, exploitation, oppression, and possible genocide hidden in the history of the United States. As Loewen shows, Columbus and his companions actively propagated hideous violence against the peaceful natives they encountered in the Americas, and sought to eliminate them from the land by many nefarious means, including spreading plagues with contaminated blankets and supplies. Columbus and the Europeans also initiated the slave trade across the Atlantic, and Loewen shows how integral the institution of slavery was to the accelerating prosperity of the nation, by providing countless hours of free labor, an asset which could never be matched by competing countries. The result of reading Loewen's brilliant review of the dark reality of America's rise to global power is a lasting tendency to investigate the simple, sanguine versions of historical events that we are taught so that we might identify the hidden complexities and often shameful realities that accompany our greatest achievements.
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