James Loewen

James Loewen grew up in Illinois and attended Carleton College. As a junior, he spent a semester in Mississippi, an experience that inspired him to question the way that history textbooks perpetuate various forms of bias. Loewen earned a PhD in sociology from Harvard University studying Chinese Americans in Mississippi, and afterwards went to teach at Mississippi’s historically black Tougaloo College. In 1974, he wrote a history textbook called Mississippi: Conflict and Change, and successfully sued the Mississippi school board after it refused to accept the textbook for classroom use because it was too “controversial.” Loewen spent two years writing Lies My Teacher Told Me, studying dozens of history textbooks at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. When the book was published in 1995, it caused a stir, and made Loewen a minor celebrity. He’s continued to expand on Lies since the 90s, adding additional chapters, and has also authored or co-authored books on the history of race and racism in America. He’s currently working on a new book, Surprises on the Landscape: Unexpected Places That Get History Right.