America's Past and Promise
Two long reviews of the 1997 version of America's Past and
Promise appeared in the September-October issue of The Textbook
Letter, under these headlines: "A Dumbed-Down Book, Ruled by
Leftist Ideology" and "McDougal Littell's Baadassss Song."
I have examined a random sample of 80 pages in the 1998 version
(beginning on page 3 and ending on page 795), and I have seen
that each of those 80 pages is identical to the like-numbered
page in the 1997 version. I also have found that the 1998 book
retains, without any change at all, every item that was cited in
our reviews of the 1997.
William J. Bennetta is a professional editor, a fellow of the
California Academy of Sciences, the president of The Textbook
League, and the editor of The Textbook Letter. He writes
frequently about the propagation of quackery, false "science" and
false "history" in schoolbooks.
Reviewing a middle-school book in American history
1998. 801 pages + appendix. ISBN of the student's edition:
0-395-86707-X.
McDougal Littell Inc., P.O. Box 1667, Evanston, Illinois 60204.
(McDougal Littell is owned by Houghton Mifflin.)
It Seems Merely to Be the Old Book with a New Date
William J. Bennetta
When a publisher recycles a textbook and tries to pass it off as
something new, the publisher typically makes some minor,
ceremonial changes in the book's text and, perhaps, a few changes
in the illustrations. McDougal Littell, however, apparently
chose to ignore that ceremony when producing the 1998 version of
America's Past and Promise. This book has a new copyright date
and a new ISBN, but it seems to be identical to the 1997 version
in every other respect.
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