Liberal Bias in U.S. History Textbooks?

Think the history your kids are being taught in school is fair and balanced?

Think again says Larry Schweikart, University of Dayton professor and author of "48 Liberal Lies About American History (That You Probably Learned In School)."

Here are four examples from Schweikart's "worst offenders":

• "The American Pageant," by Bailey and David Kennedy

Schweikart's take:

"One of the most long-running and flawed, of these texts, esp. in the Reagan years. On p. 237, I actually have two charts, one from the book, and one reflecting the REAL data (i.e., "real" dollars as a share of GNP — which any responsible economist would have used. The visual difference is stunning."

• "Nation of Nations," by James Davidson, et al

Schweikart's take:

"Really bad. It says of Gorbachev (p. 53) 'Gorbachev's reform policies led NOT ONLY to the collapse of the Soviet empire but also to the breakup of the Soviet Union itself.' Wow.

"It says of 'Star Wars,' (p. 48), 'Nicknamed 'Star Wars' after a popular science fiction film, it spent billions of dollars trying to establish a space-based defense system. Most scientists contended that the project was as fantastic as the movie.' That system is now in place, and is being requested by the Europeans."

• "American Destiny," by Mark C. Carnes and John A. Garraty

Schweikart's take:

"Says (p. 90) of Sacco and Vanzetti, 'The excesses of the fundamentalists, the xenophobes, the Klan, the red-baiters, and the prohibitionists distrubed American intellectuals profoundly.... Sacco and vanzetti were anarchists and Italian immigrants. Their trial was a travesty.' So, there you have it: If you thought S-V were guilty, you were a Klansman!

"On the Rosenbergs (p. 99) they said 'Although they were not MAJOR spies and the information they revealed was NOT IMPORTANT [the atomic bomb!!!???], the Rosenbergs were executed, to the consternation of many liberals in the United States and elsewhere.'"

• "The American Journey," by Al Goldfield

Schweikart's take:

"We see (p. 86) that 'Many rural Protestant Americans saw Prohibition as a symbolic cultural issue [which allowed them] to control the expanding cities.'"