The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion
The Trouble with Textbooksis a very important book not only for Jews but for the entire Christian community. This volume is an excellent tool for anyone who is interested in balanced information that is fair and reliable concerning Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. (Rev. John J. Keane, SA, Franciscan Friars of the Atonement)One of my greatest challenges in the university classroom is to teach critical thinking. Most undergraduates, though, consider the course textbook revealed truth and refuse to question it.The Trouble with Textbooksreveals that what passes for academic writing must be challenged. (Marc Dollinger, San Francisco State University)This book is a must-read for anyone who cares what American school children are learning about history and religion. I was dismayed to learn just how much our nation's school systems and the publishing industry 'dumb down' vital information about religion and how wrong it is. There is powerful and frightening information in this book that gives readers a sense of outrage. (Carolivia Herron, PAUSE Creative Writing Program, in partnership with Washington, D.C., Public Schools)The Trouble with Textbooksshould shock and concern everyone in the educational establishment. This groundbreaking study unflinchingly exposes the dissemination of inaccurate and false history. As the book makes plain, parents and responsible educators must steadfastly demand greater accuracy in the social studies textbooks used to educate entire generations of our schoolchildren. I strongly recommend reading this book from cover to cover. (Ephraim Isaac, Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, New Jersey)The five-year study of 28 history, geography,and social studies textbooks published by Lexington Books, reveals that the most widely used textbooks in America's schools are presenting a distorted view of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and the Middle East.The Trouble with Textbooksshows that textbooks are filled with errors, inaccuracies, and even propaganda....The authors found over 500 erroneous passages in the textbooks. (9/24/08Market Watch)Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra have produced a work of incomparable value. They have exposed an extraordinary pattern of errors, distortions and falsehoods in public school textbooks, teacher training and supplemental materials. More frightening is the stunning extent to which our children are being indoctrinated with anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli materials. Every parent, educator, and policy-maker should read this book. (Kenneth L. Marcus, City University of New York)Of great value. Recommended. (H. M. MillerCHOICE)This book exposes the poor scholarship and untruths in textbooks about Jews and Israel. The problems uncovered in this analysis illustrate the need for reform in the way textbooks are developed, written, marketed, and distributed. (Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies, Summer 2009)