Hijacking History, Kathleen Wellman
Hijacking History, Kathleen Wellman
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Hijacking History
How the Christian Right Teaches History and Why It Matters

Author: Kathleen Wellman

Narrator: Kim Niemi

Unabridged: 15 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/15/2022


Synopsis

The teaching of history has long been the subject of partisan warfare. Religion often plays a prominent role in these debates, as secular progressives and conservative Christians disagree over which historical figures are worthy of study, how (or whether) certain events should be portrayed, and ultimately how tax dollars should be spent. But what about students who are educated outside the public schools, either in religious schools or at home? How are they learning history, and what effect does that have on our democracy?

Hijacking History analyzes the high school world history textbooks produced by the three most influential publishers of Christian educational materials. In these books, the historian, informed by his faith, tells the allegedly unbiased story of God's actions as interpreted through the Bible. History becomes a weapon to judge and condemn civilizations that do not accept the true God or adopt "biblical" positions. In their treatment of the modern world, these texts identify ungodly ideas to be vanquished—evolution, humanism, biblical modernism, socialism, and climate science among them.


About Kathleen Wellman

Kathleen Wellman is Dedman Family Distinguished Professor of History and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Southern Methodist University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mike on August 13, 2024

The author examines three Christian educational publishing houses and their material for primarily high school history courses. These three publishers produce almost all of the material used by Christian homeschoolers and by private, conservative, Protestant schools. A few million children use this......more

Goodreads review by Derek on June 13, 2022

I grew up in Christian schools, went to a Christian college, and taught in Christian schools for a number of years. I am still an evangelical, and most would consider me a theologically conservative one. The author summarizes very accurately how various Christian school curriculums portray history.......more

Goodreads review by Jim on August 17, 2023

Dr. Wellman's book explores alternative version of American history, told through the lens of the major conservative/fundamentalist religious education entities out there--Abeka, Bob Jones U., etc. There is clearly a danger for such versions of history gaining intellectual currency. As we have seen,......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on February 25, 2024

An important book. Provides insights to some of the current political situation in the U.S. I recognize many many of these view/positions but did not know the history. The book is fairly academic and dry and so it is a bit tough slogging at times.......more

Goodreads review by Hunter on July 10, 2022

Generally pretty good, although some objectively incorrect bits here and there (Such as failing the 'Stop conflating the Taliban with the Mujahideen please' challenge) which did slightly mar points, but they don't impact the general thrust of the book with feels pretty on point.......more