Introduction: Something has gone very wrong -- Handicapped by history: The process of hero making -- 1493: The true importance of Christopher Columbus -- The first Thanksgiving -- Red eyes -- Gone with the wind: The invisibility of racism in American history textbooks -- John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The invisibility of antiracism in American history textbooks -- The land of opportunity -- Watching big brother: What textbooks teach about the Federal government -- See no evil: Choosing not to look at the war in Vietnam -- Down the memory hole: The disappearance of the recent past -- History and the future -- Does this way of teaching history work?