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The American history curriculum — if you can even call it that — is a slippery thing. Unlike many other countries, the United States lacks national standards for what should be taught to public school students about the nation’s past. Each state sets its own curriculum guidelines, but typically they are loose, with 13,000 school districts making their own decisions on textbooks, and individual teachers exercising great autonomy.
In my years as a national education reporter, experienced social studies teachers have told me that they often rely more on primary sources than on district-issued textbooks in crafting lesson plans. Teachers also understand that in order to keep their jobs, they must stay alert to the biases and concerns of their local communities. They may adjust their curriculum accordingly. And students, as we all know, are unlikely to read dry, written-by-committee textbooks with great attention.
Nevertheless, the study of textbooks holds an enduring appeal for activists, scholars and journalists like me. We pore over them because they’re among the few tangible representations of what ideas our children are exposed to after...