The twisted history of Christopher Columbus is widely available on the internet and is eagerly lapped up by social justice activists and shared as the holy gospel of American history. That’s what is so frustrating about the web: fewer and fewer people read books or do their own research anymore. If there’s a TikTok that appeals to their emotions, it is too easily accepted as truth.
But if that’s not good enough for you, you’ve come to the right place. There are mountains of documentation on the whole story of Christopher Columbus, his discoveries, and the natives he encountered. You don’t have to go to university to learn it, either. It’s all readily available for everyone who’s willing to pick up a book and read it.
I’m giving you a short list of six books that counter the insanely false narrative surrounding Columbus. I hope you’ll read these books, check the footnotes, peruse the bibliographies, and follow the rabbit trails.
Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals: This is one of our reprints! It contains an 1892 biography of Columbus by Edward Everett Hale, based on the original journals of Columbus AND the actual journals themselves. The journals contain over 700 footnotes that are amazing in themselves. Get it here.
2. Christopher Columbus The Hero: Defending Columbus From Modern Day Revisionism: This excellent book counters the popular narratives about Columbus and sets them straight with historic facts. Get it here. (There is now a Part 2, which I have not yet read.)
3. Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus: this is a well-respected history by Samuel Eliot Morison, published in 1942 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The unique thing about this book is that Admiral Morison undertook the same voyage in ships very similar to Columbus’ Santa Maria and Nina. This one should be part of every home library! Get it here.
4. Columbus and Cortez, Conquerors for Christ: Dr. John Eidsmoe is the respected author of this look at explorers and their Christian faith. Get it here.
5. Debunking Howard Zinn: Columbus is only one topic in this badly-needed refutation of classic woke history. Howard Zinn is the one who catapulted the massive untruths about Columbus into popular culture and academia, and author Mary Grabar does an excellent job of systematically debunking Zinn’s (uncited) claims. Get it here.
6. Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World: It’s not just Columbus who gets a bad rap for colonizing the New World! This book addresses the claims of “innocent Indians good, Europeans bad” that is so common today. There’s so much more to the story! I have had some of my teenagers read this for American history. Get it here.
Looking for children’s books on Columbus? I have a list on my other blog.
And check out my podcast from 2025 on Columbus while you’re at it.
At Knowledge Keepers, we love primary source documents, and encourage every American to read them as often as possible. That’s why we reprint the good old books in our Home Library Series. When reading old manuscripts and documents, we run into a common question: Why do they sometimes use an “f” in the place of an “s”?
This is called a long or leading s, a character that looks similar to the letter “f” but is used as an “s,” often as the first of a “double s” as in assign or address.
Take the Virginia Constitution of May 6, 1776:
Though it looks like an “f” to us, it really is another form of “s.”
Look closely.
“In Eighteenth century writing two different forms of the letter “s” appear in both printed and handwritten works. The regular “s” which is still used today, and the “long S.”
“It’s sometimes hard to see the difference between the long S and the letter F. The horizontal bar goes all the way through the vertical stem of the letter ‘f’ but only extends to the left of the vertical stem of the long S in printed works.” (Source)
There’s a lot more info on the history of this part of the English language in the detailed post at Babel Stone Blog, where I found this list of “Long S rules:
Rules for Long S in English
The following rules for the use of long s and short s are applicable to books in English, Welsh and other languages published in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and other English-speaking countries during the 17th and 18th centuries.
short s is used at the end of a word (e.g. his, complains, ſucceſs)
short s is used before an apostrophe (e.g. clos’d, us’d)
short s is used before the letter ‘f’ (e.g. ſatisfaction, misfortune, transfuſe, transfix, transfer, ſucceſsful)
short s is used after the letter ‘f’ (e.g. offset), although not if the word is hyphenated (e.g. off-ſet) [see Short S before and after F for details]
short s is used before the letter ‘b’ in books published during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century (e.g. husband, Shaftsbury), but long s is used in books published during the second half of the 18th century (e.g. huſband, Shaftſbury) [see Short S before B and K for details]
short s is used before the letter ‘k’ in books published during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century (e.g. skin, ask, risk, masked), but long s is used in books published during the second half of the 18th century (e.g. ſkin, aſk, riſk, maſked) [see Short S before B and K for details]
Compound words with the first element ending in double s and the second element beginning with s are normally and correctly written with a dividing hyphen (e.g. Croſs-ſtitch, Croſs-ſtaff), but very occasionally may be written as a single word, in which case the middle letter ‘s’ is written short (e.g. Croſsſtitch, croſsſtaff).
long s is used initially and medially except for the exceptions noted above (e.g. ſong, uſe, preſs, ſubſtitute)
long s is used before a hyphen at a line break (e.g. neceſ-ſary, pleaſ-ed), even when it would normally be a short s (e.g. Shaftſ-bury and huſ-band in a book where Shaftsbury and husband are normal), although exceptions do occur (e.g. Mans-field)
double s is normally written as double long s medially and as long s followed by short s finally (e.g. poſſeſs, poſſeſſion), although in some late 18th and early 19th century books a different rule is applied, reflecting contemporary usage in handwriting, in which long s is used exclusively before short s medially and finally [see Rules for Long S in some late 18th and early 19th century books for details]
short s is used before a hyphen in compound words with the first element ending in the letter ‘s’ (e.g. croſs-piece, croſs-examination, Preſs-work, bird’s-neſt)
long s is maintained in abbreviations such as ſ. for ſubſtantive, and Geneſ. for Geneſis (this rule means that it is practically impossible to implement fully correct automatic contextual substitution of long s at the font level)
So when did Americans finally switch to the exclusive form of S? The History of Information site says, “Long ‘s’ fell out of use in Roman and italic typography well before the middle of the 19th century; in French the change occurred from about 1780 onwards, in English in the decades before and after 1800, and in the United States around 1820. This may have been spurred by the fact that long ‘s’ looks somewhat like ‘f’ (in both its Roman and italic forms), whereas short ‘s’ did not have the disadvantage of looking like another letter, making it easier to read correctly, especially for people with vision problems.”
Here at Knowledge Keepers, our focus is on the importance of owning printed books in a well-stocked home library. In the 21st century, it kind of feels like moving backward, but in a digital age, we must exercise caution.
Everything is digital. Books, music, movies, shopping, medical care…it’s almost mind blowing to think that in the span of 20-ish years, everything we do in our daily life has been digitized. I enjoy the convenience of ordering my groceries online, and since I live in a small town, shopping through apps has definitely saved me time and money. And while I do have a massive home library, I also listen to audiobooks every day.
But there’s one digital application that gives me a little concern: Bible apps. Don’t get me wrong; I love the instant access we all have to the scriptures. It’s very handy for looking up something on the spur of the moment, or reading (and listening) to the Bible away from home. I want to be clear: I do use my Bible app all the time!
My concern, though, is that an entire generation (or two!) of Christians depend on it as their sole Bible. For Christians, a printed volume of scripture is imperative, and I have two major reasons for this:
1. The printed Bible changed the world
When writers talk about the Protestant Reformation, they often use phrases such as “pivotal” and “lightning.” It was one of the most dramatic points in the history of the church after the apostolic age of the first century. The most important result of this movement was that the Word of God was translated and printed in the common tongues of the peoples of the western world.
We in the 21st century have a difficult time putting ourselves in the shoes of those medieval Christians: church services held in Latin by church authorities who had private copies of the scriptures, again, only in Latin. Latin was a language for only the well-educated in most countries; in a feudal culture, very few people were able to get an education or read at all. This practice meant that Christians were wholly dependent on the church for their knowledge of God, holiness, and salvation. As we know, the Roman Catholic Church was abusing this power over the people in many ways, but some of the most egregious included selling assurances of salvation and heaven.
The church was greatly in need of reform. Spiritual darkness personified the Roman Catholic Church. The Bible was a closed book. Spiritual ignorance ruled the minds of the people. The gospel was perverted. Church tradition trumped divine truth. Personal holiness was abandoned. The rotten stench of manmade traditions covered pope and priest. The corruption of ungodliness contaminated both dogma and practice.
But something happened on October 31, 1517 that ignited a fire.
Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, was convicted through his reading and studying of the scriptures about the differences between what the Bible taught and what the Catholic church taught. He was troubled, and then angry, and finally took bold action. He made a list of his reasons, known as his Ninety-Five Theses. On the day before All Saints Day in the town of Wittenberg, Germany, he nailed this list to the church door, lighting the spark that would become the fire of reformation.
By defying the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Reformers like Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, and others ushered in the age of freedom: freedom to read and know the Holy Scriptures, freedom to worship outside the dictates of the Roman church, and most importantly, freedom in Christ alone. These men risked (and some lost) their lives for this reformation.
We do not wish to abolish teaching and to make every man his own master, but if the curates will not teach the gospel, the layman must have the Scripture, and read it for himself, taking God for his teacher. (William Tyndale, later burned at the stake for daring to translate the scriptures into English.)
These men and their boldness produced a ripple effect. The invention of the printing press coupled with the zeal of the reformers created a new world in Christendom: the spread of the Holy Bible in the common tongue.
The best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1500 years since its contents were standardized, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies. (Guinness World Records)
Christians should understand the structure of the scriptures
The Bible is a massive volume, made up of 66 books. There is a lot to unpack! It’s important for Christians to understand the different books, the chronology, and the many cross references. In my opinion, a good study Bible is a necessity.
Every member of your family should have a Bible
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is the foundation of all clear views of religion. He that is well grounded in it will not generally waiver; he will not be carried about by every wind of new doctrine. Any system of training that does not make knowledge of Scripture its priority is unsafe and unsound. If you love your children, let the simple Bible be everything in the training of their souls and let all other books take second place.” (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents)
“Christian children mainly need to be taught the doctrines, precepts, and life of the gospel; they require divine truth to be put before them clearly and forcibly. Why should the higher doctrines, the doctrines of grace, be kept back from them? These doctrines are not merely structural bones; or if they are, they are full of marrow and covered with fatness. Our responsibility is to make doctrine simple; this is a main part of our work. Teach the little ones the whole truth and nothing but the truth, for instruction is the great desire of the child’s nature.” (Charles Spurgeon, Come Ye Children)
“You can rest assured that if a student is capable of learning trigonometry or biology then he or she is capable of learning ecclesiology (the doctrine of the Church), pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit), or eschatology (the doctrine of the end times). And rather than viewing systematic theology as an esoteric subject meant only for pastors and seminarians, your kids will recognize that they are simply learning the deep truths of the Bible meant for believers of all ages to learn, ponder, and ultimately enjoy to the glory of God.” (Josh Niemi, Expository Parenting)
2. Digital products are not 100% reliable
That statement right there is why Knowledge Keepers exists.
Digital media is changeable and unreliable. While looking up verses in a pinch is a great use for a digital Bible, having a trustworthy printed Bible is valuable in so many ways.
Movies, eBooks, and songs that are purchased digitally have a wide variety of licenses, often making you a “renter” of digital products. Customers have build massive libraries of audiobooks, songs, and movies on digital platforms, only to have parts of these libraries disappear due to a change in ownership.
The YouVersion Bible App is currently the most popular Bible app, and for good reason. It features numerous translations, some references, audio capability, and a wide range of other study helps. It’s very handy, and I will admit that it encourages Bible reading for many who wouldn’t pick up a heavy printed Bible.
The Bible is quite controversial, and the messages within have caused no small amount of trouble for Christians online. And it’s worse if you’re not in America. For Americans who travel internationally, certain apps and websites are not accessible in certain countries. And for those who live under communist regimes, the Bible is the #1 offender. (I mean, communism is anti-God, so what do you expect?)
As I write this blog post, we in America live under a freedom-loving administration. But that changes with each election, as we have seen recently. Any digital media is subject to scrutiny, revision, and even removal at any time.
Again: that’s why Knowledge Keepers exists.
So, while I’m not going to say that you should stop using Bible apps or online Bible sites, I will beg encourage you to own, know, and use a printed Bible.
Not to be dramatic or anything, but men literally died for that privilege.
As we explore world and American history in Mystery of History volumes 3 and 4, I’m adding in our Knowledge Keepers series of American history primary source books.
Lots of people ask how to get more American history with Mystery of History curriculum. It’s easy to do, if you use the table of contents as a guide. As the author of Mystery of History notes in Volume IV, “…an experienced teacher can use Volume IV in two years and add more American history to it to offer students one year of modern history and one year of American history.”
We use lots of the recommended books from the Mystery of History Companion Guide, but this list is specifically about the primary sources from Knowledge Keepers Bookstore. So how does it work? Well, it depends on the lesson! In most cases, one book will accompany one or two lessons. But in some cases, a book like Valiant Navigators will have a chapter to read with a number of lessons throughout the textbook.
Some of the Knowledge Keepers books have a free study guide available, so if you anticipate using those, allow several days to read the book and explore the activities in a guide. You can pause your Mystery of History lesson plans and just explore this one book topic for awhile, or continue reading the book as you work your way through multiple lessons. The beauty of this method is that Mystery of History covers chronological world history, so the events are all connected. Reading about Columbus while also reading about other major world events of the same time is a really good way to get the big picture of history!
Whether you read aloud to all of your children at once (this is my usual method) or assign the books to be read by your children, they can easily fit into any history curriculum.
Below you will find a free PDF reading plan for Mystery of History Volume 3 + Knowledge Keepers books that go with different lessons. This will be followed by Mystery of History Volume 4 + Knowledge Keepers books.
Valiant Navigators: Sailor’s Narratives of Voyages along the New England Coast
1524 – 1624
Valiant Navigators is a classic, primary source history book that is also part of the Knowledge Keepers collection. It features 11 journal accounts and letters of men who explored the American coastline in the years after Columbus.
I love using these original source documents alongside our history lessons, so I’m sharing our reading plan with you! Mystery of History Volume 3 focuses on exploration, Renaissance, Reformation, and the early dawn of American history. Use this simple guide to include these readings with your history lessons.
Download a PDF of this reading list below.
1: Giovanni da Verrazano, 1524 – Narragansett Bay
Read after MOH Lesson 23: Ulrich Zwingli Leads the Swiss Reformation
2: David Ingram, 1568 – Maine
Read after MOH Lesson 42: Jeanne d’Albret
3. Bartholomew Gosnold, 1602 – Buzzard’s Bay
Read after MOH Lesson 49: The Works of William Shakespeare
4. Martin Pring, 1603 – Plymouth Harbour
Read after MOH Lesson 53: Australian Aborigines 1605
5. Samuel de Champlain, 1605 – Maine and Massachusetts
Read with MOH Lesson 55: Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson
6. George Waymouth, 1605 – St. George’s River
7. George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert, 1607 – Kenebeck River
8. Henry Hudson, 1609 – Penobscot & Fishing Banks
9. John Smith, 1614 – Monhegan
Read with MOH Lesson 56: John Smyth: A Separatist of England and
MOH Lesson 57: The Marriage of Pocahontas 1614
10. Thomas Dermer, 1619 – Maine and Cape Cod
11. Christopher Levett, 1624 – York and Portland
Read after MOH Lesson 59: The Pilgrims Land at New Plymouth 1620 and
Lesson 60: Squanto, 1621
Read my blog post (and get the PDF) of how to use all of the Knowledge Keepers book in your homeschool at nickitruesdell.com!
…we now have an entire generation of Americans born after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and USSR. They didn’t live through the mass repression and carnage that was Soviet communism. They need to learn about it, just as my generation learned the evils of Nazism.” (author Paul Kengor)
There is more than one generation who believes that Marxism is cool, or that stories of communism are exaggerated. It’s easy to recognize someone who hasn’t read any stories from the victims of communism.
This must change, and it starts with you and me.
At Knowledge Keepers, we are all about preserving, reading, and passing on the knowledge of past generations in the form of the written word. We believe every home should have a library, and that library should include as many biographies, letters, journals, and other firsthand accounts as possible.
Know this: videos, articles, and blog posts with true stories of communism are routinely scrubbed from the web. This is one of the most important topics to collect in printed form so that the stories are not lost. This is a case of not learning history and being doomed to repeat it.
So in the interest of knowledge and preservation, we present this (not exhaustive) list of books on communism that every American should buy, read, and share with their descendants.
Ronald Reagan called communism a “disease,” but it’s hard to find a 20th-century disease that killed as many. He put it better when he called communism “evil” and “a form of insanity.” And yet, so much of this evil insanity isn’t known, or being taught, especially in our universities.” (Paul Kengor)
Critical Race Theory is a Marxian Theory that views whiteness as bourgeois property to be abolished through racial class conflict.” ― James A. Lindsay, Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis
Welcome to the Bonus Links page for Aeroplane: The Wright Brothers, published by Knowledge Keepers Bookstore. This page is an accompaniment to the free study guide download.
Thankfully, the Smithsonian (now National Air and Space Museum) corrected its ways, and they have a fabulous display, which you can tour virtually with this YouTube video:
Human Flight
After the Wright Brothers succeeded in solving the problem of human flight, airplanes quickly became a part of everyday life in the 20th and 21st centuries. Check out more websites:
Who doesn’t love a new reading challenge at the start of the New Year? Knowledge Keepers has a new one for you, and the best part is that it’s simple. (Get the printable version at the end!)
As with everything we do here, this simple list is dedicated to helping readers become more history literate by suggesting twelve different categories to explore this year. And while this is a “2024 reading challenge,” this list is a great starting point for everyone who wants to become a Knowledge Keeper at any time!
History Focused
Since Knowledge Keepers is all about history education and preservation, this challenge is history-focused. Local, state, American, and world history…they’re all important, and all worth preserving.
Short and sweet
This challenge is only 12 categories long — one for each month of the year. We know that it’s not possible for everyone to read 50 or 100 books each year, so we’re making this one totally achievable. And if you have the time, by all means read more!
*With a twist!
This is where the “keepers” portion of Knowledge Keepers is important: we challenge you to add all twelve titles to your home library. This is important for you and for posterity. Hunt down something worth knowing and sharing! And keep track, because at the end of the year, we want to see your completed list!
Download my free printables below. This is a 3-page document including a bookmark, full-page graphic, and a write-in chart. I like to print these on cardstock, but any paper will do.
If you’ve followed Knowledge Keepers for any amount of time, you know that we started after a simple google search for historic photos of American inventors. That led down a rabbit trail of learning how biased an internet search can be, and realizing just how atrocious the “history” online is.
Now, I know that history content on the web is sketchy, but it’s gotten worse each year. Take my search for a photo of Robert Carter III.
Labeled for Life
Who’s Robert Carter III? He’s the wealthy Virginia plantation owner in Virginia Tutor: Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian, our latest (to date) Knowledge Keepers title. As I do with all of my history reprints, I seek out up-to-date information on the people and places in the books. I like to add maps, photos, or even info that wasn’t readily available when these old books were first published.
So, I wanted to find a portrait of Robert Carter III, his wife, and maybe their plantation, Nominy Hall. As I suspected, Wikipedia has a page on each of them. But in my search, here’s how it showed up in the results:
Notice the title given to Ann? “American Slaveowner.”
Yes, she and her husband did own slaves. About 500, in fact. But you’d guess by this simple web search that owning slaves was all they were known for.
However, there’s something very interesting that you’d only know if you kept digging for info on the Carters.
“It was 230 years ago Sunday that Robert Carter III, the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, quietly walked into a Northumberland County courthouse and delivered an airtight legal document announcing his intention to free, or manumit, more than 500 slaves.
It is disingenuous to label Robert and Ann with the title “American Slaveowner” when there is a lot more to their history. This is the modern way of marking someone for their wrongs, while ignoring anything they did of worth.
He is quoted as having a religious conversion that prompted him to begin the process of manumission. It took several years, but he set the process in motion to free 452 slaves, and ended up freeing nearly 600.
This info was not even mentioned in the original release of Philip Fithian’s journal, though the first printing was in 1900. Maybe the publisher and editor weren’t aware. Who knows? But it is certainly included in the Knowledge Keepers edition.
Museum Bias
But that’s not all. I want to show you how much has changed in history videos on the web.
When I’m reading and proofing one of these old history books, I like to do a lot of research in case there are notes to add (ahem: manumission, anyone?) or terms to clarify. So I perused YouTube for some videos on 18th century life in Virginia. I want you to watch these two videos and tell me if you spot the differences. (Note the date of release for each one.)
Virginia Museum of History and Culture: October 7, 2020
P. Allen Smith: August 11, 2014
Did you notice the bias? Did you notice the vast differences in information?
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture has access to a wealth of artifacts and information. Yet in that short 8 minutes of “Life in Colonial Virginia,” they chose to predominantly focus on the enslaved population of Virginia, even when attempting to focus on the other classes.
The P. Allen Smith video truly focuses on actual “18th Century Living,” which is what most people are expecting when they google “life in 18th century Virginia.”
While slavery was and is an abhorrent practice, it was not the only thing that took place in American history. We want to know about all aspects of life in different time periods, and we want to know the full story.
The examples I shared are illustrative of Critical Race Theory. Those that practice this will say it doesn’t exist. But viewing everything in history through a racial lense is exactly that.
You can Google what happened at a certain time period and get numerous results with varying levels of bias, or you could read books written in that same time period.
That’s what we’re here for: The original writings of ordinary and extraordinary people. The big, the small, the good, the bad, the embarrassing, and the celebratory. Nothing is left out and nothing is revised to make modern readers feel comfy. Just snapshots in time that bring history to life.
We strongly believe that Americans must preserve our history in printed books, in homes across the nation. Internet archives are not sufficient. They are unreliable, and easily revised on a whim. Will you join the home library movement?
Get your copy of Virginia Tutor and read up on life in 18th century Virginia, Robert Carter III, and get all the facts.
For a long time, I couldn’t understand why people hated our historical forefathers. I didn’t know where the Pilgrim and Columbus misunderstanding and misrepresentation came from. I mean, I assumed (correctly) that it was being badly taught in schools, but I thought it was a gradual updating of one textbook from the last (bad) textbook, written by liberal bureaucrats and taught by teachers who hadn’t done their research.
While much of that is also true, I began to realize that there was a definite shift in the representation of all American history in my lifetime. That shift was the result of one book: A People’s History of the United States of America by Howard Zinn. There are two ways you can verify this: ask anyone what they believe about Columbus, or ask them if they’ve ever heard of Howard Zinn. You’ll find that either answer is connected to both questions. Most Americans today believe Columbus was a murdering rapist, and they have no clue who Zinn is. An additional segment of the population knows who Zinn is and adores him (while celebrating Indigenous People’s Day).
I strongly urge all Americans to read Zinn’s book along with Debunking Howard Zinn by Mary Grabar. Reading Zinn’s book will help you to understand how we got where we are today. Reading Grabar’s book will expose the ridiculousness of Zinn’s “history.”
Zinn uses a mix of plagiarism and opinion to create what is a very influential mangling of American history. And Americans have lapped it up. No double checking. No critical thinking.
Zinn prided himself on telling “untold” stories. The reason they were “untold” is because they were untrue.
Zinn’s People’s HistoryGrabar’s Debunking Zinn
Don’t just take it from me. Here at Knowledge Keepers, I specialize in publishing the stories that were written by the people who were there. Just like Columbus. He was not a murdering rapist. He was not a saint. He was human, just like you and me, and he while he made some errors in judgement, he also accomplished some incredible things.
The same is true throughout American history. Zinn paints pretty much all American heroes as devils. But that’s not all. He has a knack for sanctifying the underdog, as if being a victim automatically imbues righteousness. (Now we call it intersectionality, a cog in the Critical Theory machine.)
There’s no doubt that Zinn reshuffled the good guys and the bad guys. As we shall see, A People’s History recast World War II — the “good war” fought by the “Greatest Generation” — as a string of Allied atrocities matching those of our Nazi enemies. Zinn inspired young activists to embrace Marxism and see civil rights through its lens rather than as a fight for equal opportunity, as it was originally envisioned by the abolitionists, the NAACP, and even the early black nationalists…
What he did in his History, as Zinn explained on page two of his autobiography, was to reveal the Founding Fathers to be not only “ingenious organizers” but also “rich white slaveholders, merchants, bondholders, fearful of lower-class rebellion, or, as James Madison put it, of an ‘equal division of property.’ Our military heroes — Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt — were racists, Indian-killers, war lovers, imperialists. Our most liberal Presidents — Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy — were more concerned with political power and national aggrandizement than with the rights of nonwhite people. (Grabar, Chapter 2: The Life of Zinn)
Mary Grabar, in Debunking Howard Zinn, painstakingly corrects Zinn’s history with primary source documents. She also shares Zinn’s personal and professional history, including the fact that he was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA. He taught classes on Marxism, marched for communist ideals, and campaigned for Marxist politicians. He was a proud Marxist, and it is reflected in his writings.
Grabar goes on to note (with the backing of multiple historians) that “Howard Zinn has succeeded in convincing a generation of Americans that the nation Abraham Lincoln called the “last best hope of Earth” is essentially a racist criminal enterprise built on murdering Indians, exploiting slaves, and oppressing the working man.“
This is the reason that teachers, professors, and college grads hate America. This is is why school students and pastors and many other average American citizens truly believe that our American ancestors were just a bunch of racist, greedy Europeans and that Christopher Columbus actually tortured and raped the Indian people he encountered on his voyages. The Zinn narrative has become part of the fabric of America.
Zinn’s People’s HistoryGrabar’s Debunking Zinn
Now you see these ideas in every medium: children’s books, textbooks, history lessons, educational YouTube videos, Hollywood, and social media. That’s why many well-meaning Americans simply believe the lies. They’re hard to escape.
Zinn is not entirely to blame for the rise in Marxist critical theory (or cultural Marxism), but he took the academic notions and made them mainstream. If you’re unfamiliar with these ideas, I encourage you to read The Politically Incorrect Guide to Communism, with a special focus on the last chapters on Cultural Marxism. Social justice, feminism, intersectionality…the list is growing longer. All of these stem from Marxism.
My focus here at Knowledge Keepers is history in print, original sources, and not quick Google searches. While a Google search will show you what the currant narrative is about Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Founders, printed copies of primary sources are the safest form of knowledge, as well as the preservation of that knowledge.
It’s no longer enough to read history; you must be aware of the differences between primary sources and modern revisions. Teach your children the differences. Show them the truth and the lies. If you plan to send your children to any college anywhere, prepare them with these books first. Help them to recognize bias.
