Synopsis
Debunks a host of common delusions Americans share about their past
Reviews
YA-- As in Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History (Morrow, 1988), Shenkman again sets out to reveal the truth about America's past. Twelve well-researched chapters cover subjects from patriotism to saints and scalawags. A book that's sure to stimulate discussion, amuse, and perhaps even anger those who cling to traditional views.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Lacking the verve and elan of Shenkman's Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History , this sequel is a more conventional history, although debunkery is once again the author's mission. Readers learn that flag worship is a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S., that the colonists (even in theocratic enclaves) were not especially devout and that the great industrialists of the late 19th century were neither daring nor innovative. Readers will discover also that Thoreau was no recluse at Walden Pond, Hemingway never fought in a war and Horatio Alger was a pedophile. That democracy has never been widely popular and that there were drug addicts in the land as early as 1866 are not front-page news either. The book is pop-revisionist history with few surprises.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sequel to Shenkman's best-selling Legends, Lies And Cherished Myths Of American History (1989), further debunking popularly held views of Americans and their habits. Shenkman deserves credit for covering a lot of ground in relatively few pages. Starting with a timely assessment of patriotism in its historical context, he establishes fervent flag- waving as a phenomenon barely 100 years old, prompted in part by the flood of immigrants threatening to overwhelm the hegemony of ``old-stock'' Americans. Subsequent discussion ranges widely, if briefly, through matters of religion (the Pilgrims were not Puritans), work and play as modified by the Industrial Revolution, the influence of literature and the lives of the literati, American womanhood and the relative freedom a Victorian woman possessed, and the erroneous judgments passed on about figures from Boss Tweed (who had his merits) to Tokyo Rose (who never existed, even though a woman was convicted of treason in her name). Misconceptions about the national identity are dispatched with nimble wit and efficiency, but as a grab-bag of factoids and data culled from scholarly researches it all has no ultimate guiding principle, leading among other things to a pointless distortion of the Warren Harding quotation used as the title (``I love the story of Paul Revere....''). Bright and bubbly for popular consumption and sure to be as successful as its predecessor--and as distressingly flat the morning after. (Line illustrations.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
As in his previous book, Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History (Morrow, 1988), Shenkman continues to debunk the popular "truths" of American history. Using meticulous documentation and frequent clarifying footnotes, he informs us that Thoreau was not a loner, women always worked both inside and outside the home, and the Pilgrims groused about the shortage of beer during their first American winter. He also finds that the early years of the American republic were not an unmitigated triumph of hard work, flag-waving patriotism, and religious piety. In fact, Shenkman notes that many of these virtues have reached their zenith in the present decade(s). To find out what really happened, read this book, which should be in most public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/91.
- Deborah Hammer, Queens Bor ough P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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