Why Did You Create This Special Version of the Book for Kids?

Young people have been reading the original Lies for years, it’s true. But even some college students have complained that some words and sentences are too long. This version is meant to make it easier than ever for people of any age to read it and get a new view of American history.

Almost everything in this book comes from the 2007 edition of Lies My Teacher Told Me, with a few key facts and figures up­dated to 2019. The writing style has been made more kid friend­ly, and I’ve added some background information here and there to explain things that younger readers might not know. Just as in the original, all the sources of my information are listed in the Notes at the end of the book.

The main difference between this book and the 2007 Lies is that this one is shorter. It’s been streamlined a bit to focus more on our history, less on specific textbooks and the textbook industry. (But there’s still plenty of criticism of textbooks.) If this book leaves you hungry for the full Lies experience, you can always go on to read the original!