I enjoyed this! It was a great adaptation from the original. New and younger readers will enjoy this graphic novel adaptation. I enjoyed the art style too.

Book Review
Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation
Written by James W. Loewen
Art by Nate Powell
Book 155/250
Genre: Non-Fiction
Format: Digital, Graphic Novel, ARC
Pages: 272
Published: April 16, 2024
Rating: 7/10
Art: 7/10

As a product of the American education system, it is very apparent that US history is mostly just nationalistic propaganda, unless you have a very good teacher. However, I did not realize how inaccurate that history education was. Because of this, Lies My Teacher Told Me is not an easy read. Loewen assesses common textbooks and points out where, why, and what the curriculum obfuscates. This was definitely an interesting read and I encourage those with interests in history to give it a try.

A very interesting read. Some of the information I already knew. The book was easy to follow and kept me interested throughout the entire book. I would recommend this to any teacher, parent, or librarian.

Wonderful way to make a critical book even more approachable. Powell's adaptation is a terrific use of comics to make the essential text more understandable and memorable, building on the text with elaboration, portrayal, or examples.

This was interesting and well,presented. It is a bit too wordy for me so not one of my favourites. I prefer my graphic novel books to have as little text as possible.

More densely packed with information than most graphic novels I’ve seen, this adaptation/follow up to the original Lies My Teacher Told Me is more relevant than ever in the age of misinformation and discourse around the teaching of history. Each page is full of panels that illustrate the parallels between the past and the present and invite readers and students to see these parallels.

While Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation fulfills its purpose as a supplemental text to high schoolers’ history textbooks, it does at times feel a bit heavy and like a textbook itself (though in a more accessible and engaging way). Written to encourage literacy and critical thinking, this is a thought-provoking work of graphic nonfiction, that illustrator Nate Powell hopes is “an active tool for reckoning with both our truthful history and ingrained nationalist myth in a sincere, sustained mass effort to fulfill the promise of multiracial democracy in America.”

The simple existence of the original book shook up our understanding of history education and became considered essential reading. It's a bit to my chagrin that I've never managed to read the book. But when I learned that Powell was adapting the text into the graphic novel format I knew my chance had come. Now to be clear, this is still an incredibly text heavy book. In fact, if it were not an adaptation that would be a significant criticism. Instead I understand that Powell is doing his best to illustrate and include as much of the original language as possible since it was all carefully selected in the first place to convey essential information. This is not a graphic novel that you're going to fly through but rather read carefully. The illustrations highlight the text, assisting in understanding.

Loved the illustrations while reading through the book! I think it’ll appeal to more with this illustrations honestly. Was a little slow for me to read but sometimes I just can’t get into any sort of history book (personal preference not anything against the book).

I had a great time reading this graphic novel. It brings many shocking truths about history to the surface, ones that I had never heard before. The illustrations were beautiful and really helped make each section seem to almost jump off the page. Although this isn’t a graphic novel for everyone, most people will enjoy reading it.

This edition will make the importance of well-rounded approaches to American history more accessible to many students. The stark art style pairs well with the often darker elements of history that have long been banished from history books. The fact that so many states are going in the opposite direction urged by the author since its 1995 debut highlights how great it is to have this edition released almost 30 years later.

Fantastic and overwhelming. I was blown away by some of the facts this author was providing. It was a really good read, and I think that putting it into a graphic novel format will make it a lot more accessible to its target audience. That said, it is still extremely text heavy for a graphic novel. I read it a chapter at a time, and it was very difficult to read on my phone screen. It would probably be great in a paper copy, but I wouldn't recommend the ebook to anybody if they weren't planning to read it on a large tablet.

Thanks, NetGalley, for this incredible eARC!

I would not have thought that anything in this book could shock me. I've read some chapters from the original version, I've read many articles about revisionism in American History, I taught in a Florida middle school and witnessed someone in the English department teaching that States' Rights were the cause of the civil war (leading to a department-wide discussion with said teacher). I thought I knew what I was getting into, and yet it completely blew my mind. There are so many different issues with the way textbooks treat history, from inconsistencies, to whitewashing, to ignoring or glossing over difficult issues, and Lies My Teacher Told Me did an incredible job of bringing them to light.

I feel like the graphic novel presentation makes this book more accessible. As I said, I read some of the original and, feeling overwhelmed, put it down. The graphic novel version, while still verbose, kept me turning the pages. I appreciate so much the work, research, and thoughtfulness visible on every single page.

I will be buying this book for my teens so that they can understand how to think for themselves, how to deal with difficult topics, and how to question what they learn in their textbooks. This is not a dig at schools or teachers, who I believe are out there in the thick of it, working amazingly hard every day. It is just so important to question what we are learning and to develop our own understandings.

I was taught history for most of my life in the classical teaching style, which is to say that I did almost nothing besides memorize names and dates. If I had been taught using primary sources, real analysis, and accurate information, I bet it would have been one of my favorite subjects.

I received this book in exchange for a honest review from NetGalley.

This is an excellent adaptation of the novel with updated information and great visuals. I feel that every school library should have a copy of this graphic novel in it when released.

How well do you remember your elementary, junior high, and high school history textbooks? Were you ever confused because facts did not seem to be in the right order or contradicted each other? If so, get hold of this graphic adaptation of James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me and find out what has been missing in all those textbooks!

Over the course of twelve chapters Loewen dissects the problems he has identified in a variety of textbooks. One of the first issues he raises is the sheer amount of facts that are poured into students' brains and the sheer size of the textbooks (18 most popular textbooks he examined averaged 975 pages)! Then there is the fact that most textbooks have an agenda that is focused on telling a heroic story of American history, not a balanced telling. The role and status of Christopher Columbus is explored in its own chapter as is the First Thanksgiving. Loewn spends two chapters looking at the invisibility of racism and antiracism in textbooks (think Gone with the Wind, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln). Then there is a exploration of The Land of Opportunity trope in textbooks, a look at how the concept of the Federal government is taught, and two chapters that discuss the avoidance of the Vietnam War and the recent past in textbooks. Loewen and Powell finish out the book by looking at how history could and should be taught in textbooks. In the afterword, Powell discusses how he and Loewen created a format with the author breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader in a fashion that makes the reader a participant, not just an observer.

If you ever questioned your school textbooks, Lies My Teacher Told Me could be the answer you are looking for! You might not agree with everything in this book, but this is a book that everyone should read and discuss.

I ended up reading this at the library when it came out, and I really enjoyed it! Love the art style. I have already recommended it a couple times to patrons! Thank you to the publisher, author and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend and I can’t wait to buy a copy for myself 🙂

Rating 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is INCREDIBLY dense from a graphic novel perspective. I think it does a fabulous job at conveying the material in each section but for me and my preference it is too wordy. To like the traditional book with text on text on text on every page. Because of that I skimmed the book after I made it to page 100. I will be seeking the source material out to read audibly since that is a preferred method of reading especially non fiction. Thank you to net galley for the ARC.

This graphic non-fiction work seems meant to provide an introduction to many stories in the history of the United States that have been elided, ignored, or mistold by American high school history textbooks. Since it's only pointing out omissions and giving a very light gloss on what students could be taught, it's really only enough to start one's interest in these historical events and people—it would have benefited from the bibliographies and "further readings" that are apparently present in the original book by James W. Loewen, which this adapts (and which I haven't read). Without having read the original, I really appreciated the visual element of the storytelling here.

This should be required reading! I know I'm going to be giving it to as many readers (teen and adult!) as possible.

The range of topics covered is amazing. I really appreciate that we dig into the WHY we leave things out of textbooks and WHY we present not-quite-true-facts. There's some big concepts in here that I'm excited for folks to delve into.

This book does an excellent job integrating image and words. Both work well to draw your eye across the page and keep you engaged. I can't imagine reading this book any other way!

What you don’t know about American history could fill a book. In fact, the book is here and entitled Lies My Teacher Told Me.

This graphic true story tells the rest of the tales not told in traditional history books. It also corrects some frequently repeated outright falsehoods. Some are widely known, like there were natives already in America when it was founded and we viciously fought them for total control of their land. To lesser known facts, such as what is commonly labeled as fighting to end communism was really done to help multinational companies make money by installing puppet regimes amendable to their plans.

While this book laments boring and overly long textbooks, it unfortunately falls into the same trap. Instead of being a true graphic novel, Lies My Teacher Told Me is more like a lightly illustrated history textbook. The quantity of words on each page truly overwhelm any art found there. So while the concepts are thought provoking and need to see the light of day, I would recommend reading the original book rather than this graphic version. This book would have been much better if only a few select stories were shown graphically rather than the plethora of subjects tackled here. 3 stars.

Thanks to The New Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.