James W. Loewen, wrote ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me,’ dead at 79

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The author of the million-selling “Lies My Teacher Told Me” books has died. James W. Loewen was 79. “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” was published in 1995 and became a favorite of students and former students as it challenged what Loewen considered a white, Eurocentric view of the past. He based his findings on his research while on fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, where he spent two years looking through textbooks. His other books included “Teaching What Really Happened,” “The Mississippi Chinese” and the memoir “Up a Creek, With a Paddle.”