Reviews for Los Alamos: The Ranch School Years, 1917-1943

The average rating for Los Alamos: The Ranch School Years, 1917-1943 based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-16 00:00:00 Brad Adtea I think my mother has a saying that sums this book up quite nicely, albeit at the time she was speaking of Black history in this country: "Be careful to know your history or else you should find that people will rewrite and sell it back to you in a manner that is wholly unrecognizable and you will never know." Much legislation and mandates have been passed and handed down to teachers (of all content, but his book focuses on history teachers). The history as modern students know it is constantly evolving. Reading this book and seeing the role textbooks play in shaping young minds and thoughts regarding a nation is pretty astounding. It becomes even more critical then to understand the importance of a fundamentally neutral and honest view of history. And that's before one begins the conversation on the creation and legislation of textbooks. Succinctly put, anyone who believes that the creation of [history] textbooks are free from political and economic influence is sadly mistaken and should read this book. The downside is that once you do, one sees the critical need--which is not always present--for creating civically minded individuals as students in schools who can become "citizens of the world."

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-31 00:00:00 Matt Schweyer Fascinating and informative. Some of the fights about what-our-children-should-learn that I was familiar with from my own school days have surprisingly deep roots -- many of the arguments made in 1870 could be word-for-word quotes from modern disputes.