Best-selling author, sociologist James Loewen to speak at UNL

James Loewen, a sociologist and author of "Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong," will speak and sign books at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium, 1400 R St.

He will also give a lecture, "How History Keeps Us Racist and What College Educators Can Do About It," for teaching assistants, instructors, professors and members of the UNL and Lincoln communities interested in race relations that afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Love Library Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.

While researching his book, Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian surveying 12 leading high school textbooks of American history, only to find what he called "an embarrassing blend of bland optimism, blind nationalism, and plain misinformation, weighing in at an average of 888 pages and almost five pounds." His other books include "Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong," "Mississippi: Conflict and Change," which won the Lillian Smith Award for Best Southern Nonfiction, "The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White, Social Science in the Courtroom, and The Truth About Columbus," and "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism."

His awards include the First Annual Spivack Award of the American Sociological Association for sociological research applied to the field of intergroup relations, the American Book Award, and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship. He is also Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. He attended Carleton College and received his doctorate in sociology from Harvard University. He taught race relations for 20 years at the University of Vermont.

Lead sponsors for Loewen's lectures are the UNL chapter of Nebraskans for Peace and the Institute for Ethnic Studies. Additional co-sponsors are the Office of Equity, Access and Diversity Programs, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, the departments of Sociology, History, English, and Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education; and Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. For more information, contact Lory Dance, associate professor of sociology at UNL, (402) 472-2962 or by e-mail.