Somebody was already living here -- Teaching against the culture -- The words we use influence how we think -- Exploration before Columbus -- Eurocentrism affects what textbooks include and exclude -- Why was Europe ready to act differently this time? -- Textbooks make up details about Columbus to avoid uncertainty -- Textbooks make the obstacles seem greater -- Textbooks purify his motives -- Textbooks omit what Columbus did with the Americas -- Textbooks omit changes the Americas caused in Euope and Africa -- Textbooks make Columbus seem more tragic -- Why do textbooks lie? -- Columbus and the "century of progress" -- Historiography : how history changes, depending on when and where it is written -- Objections to teaching the truth about Columbus -- The result of all this is boring history -- Furher reading and an invitation to a dialogue.