--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The textbooks also fail to show how the…" description: "\"“The textbooks also fail to show how the continuous Indian wars have reverberated through our culture. Carleton Beals has written that \"our acquiescenc..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/james-w-loewen-12569_cognitive-dissonance_the-textbooks-also-fail-to-show-how-the_924219.jpg" --- # The textbooks also fail to show how the continuous Indian… ![“The textbooks also fail to show how the continuous Indian wars have reverberated through our culture. Carleton Beals has written that "our acquiescence in Indian dispossession has molded the American character." As soon as Natives were no longer conflict partners, their image deteriorated in the…” quote by James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/james-w-loewen-12569_cognitive-dissonance_the-textbooks-also-fail-to-show-how-the_924219.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/james-w-loewen-12569_cognitive-dissonance_the-textbooks-also-fail-to-show-how-the_924219.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cd/james-w-loewen-12569_cognitive-dissonance_the-textbooks-also-fail-to-show-how-the_924219.jpg) > ““The textbooks also fail to show how the continuous Indian wars have reverberated through our culture. Carleton Beals has written that "our acquiescence in Indian dispossession has molded the American character." As soon as Natives were no longer conflict partners, their image deteriorated in the minds of many whites. Kupperman has shown how this process unfolded in Virginia after the Indian defeat in the 1640s: "It was the ultimate powerlessness of the Indians, not their racial inferiority, which made it possible to see them as people without rights." Natives who had been "ingenious," "industrious," and "quick of apprehension" in 1610 now became "sloathfull and idle, vitious, melancholy, \[and\] slovenly." This is another example of the process of cognitive dissonance.”” [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrative of American history downplays the impact of Indian wars, shaping a culture that accepts dispossession and dehumanizes Native peoples. **In simple terms:** History often hides the trauma of colonization, leading to biased cultural attitudes. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge the hidden biases in historical narratives. Themes history colonialism identity cognitive dissonance culture Mood reflective critical somber Type analytical educational When to use this quote - school curricula - public discourse - museum exhibits - media representation Key Concepts American character Indian wars cultural memory power dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How does education shape our view of marginalized groups? - What steps can we take to restore accurate histories? A Different Perspective The quote may overgeneralize the uniformity of white attitudes across all regions and periods. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cognitive dissonance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cognitive-dissonance/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Indians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indians/) [Natives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natives/) [Powerlessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerlessness/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [I think only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shiva-ayyadurai/i-think-only-a-real-indian-can-defeat-a-fake-indian/) [Shiva Ayyadurai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shiva-ayyadurai/) > [“We are beginning to understand that by the time the conquistadors struck the Andes or Custer reached the Black Hills of South Dakota, only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-manning/we-are-beginning-to-understand-that-by-the-time-the-conquistadors/) [Richard Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-manning/) > [The Indian wars have never ended in the Americas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-marmon-silko/the-indian-wars-have-never-ended-in-the-americas/) [Leslie Marmon Silko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-marmon-silko/) > [“Probably in all our history no foe has been so detested as were the Japanese. Emotions forgotten since our most savage Indian wars were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-nevins/probably-in-all-our-history-no-foe-has-been-so-detested-as-were-the/) Allen Nevins > [“A source of continual embarrassment along the American frontier—from the late 1600s until the end of the Indian Wars, in the 1890s—was a phenomenon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-franzen/a-source-of-continual-embarrassment-along-the-american-frontier-from/) [Jonathan Franzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-franzen/) > [I have become an environmentalist, because it is over the environment that the last of the Indian Wars will be fought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-brave-bird/i-have-become-an-environmentalist-because-it-is-over-the-environment/) [Mary Brave Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-brave-bird/) > [“I am a visitor from another planet, and the natives are not friendly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-laplante/i-am-a-visitor-from-another-planet-and-the-natives-are-not-friendly/) [Alice LaPlante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-laplante/) > [ “Whose voice was first sounded on this land? The voice of the red people who had but bows and arrows. \[...\] What has been… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/red-cloud/whose-voice-was-first-sounded-on-this-land-the-voice-of-the-red/) [Red Cloud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/red-cloud/) > [Others are keen to see if natives other than us live better than we do, without heat in pipes, ice in boxes, sunshine in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-maillart/others-are-keen-to-see-if-natives-other-than-us-live-better-than-we/) [Ella Maillart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-maillart/) > [“There were waves of genocide that overcame indigenous populations of Oceania and do we have a library of books or films to tell our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-b-dallocchio/there-were-waves-of-genocide-that-overcame-indigenous-populations-of/) [M.B. Dallocchio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-b-dallocchio/) > [Every Indian learns how to be a magician and learn how to misdirect attention. And no matter how close you get to my heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexie-sherman/every-indian-learns-how-to-be-a-magician-and-learn-how-to-misdirect/) Alexie Sherman > [“We have been south and suffered a great deal down there. Many have died of diseases which we have no name for. Our hearts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/little-wolf/we-have-been-south-and-suffered-a-great-deal-down-there-many-have/) Little Wolf > [So do you think were a bunch of superstitious natives or what?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-black/so-do-you-think-were-a-bunch-of-superstitious-natives-or-what/) [Jacob Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-black/) > [The state of female artists is very good. But the very definition of art has been biased in that 'art' was what men did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/the-state-of-female-artists-is-very-good-but-the-very-definition-of/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [Those who know New York City primarily through tourism or mass culture may think of us natives as possessing certain shared characteristics, not all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-dee/those-who-know-new-york-city-primarily-through-tourism-or-mass/) [Jonathan Dee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-dee/) ## More by James W. Loewen > [Many Americans have never owned a book. And others have never owned a non-fiction book. Providing them with a 300-page paperback would get them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/many-americans-have-never-owned-a-book-and-others-have-never-owned-a/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Textbooks pretty much have no real drama. They have no real storyline. To the extent they have a storyline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/textbooks-pretty-much-have-no-real-drama-they-have-no-real-storyline/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Taking ideas seriously does not fit with the rhetorical style of textbooks, which presents events so as to make them seem foreordained along a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/taking-ideas-seriously-does-not-fit-with-the-rhetorical-style-of/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Cherishing Columbus is a characteristic of white history, not American history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/cherishing-columbus-is-a-characteristic-of-white-history-not-american/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [I often suggest in workshops that if you have 30 students in your American History course in 11th grade, or whatever grade level, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/i-often-suggest-in-workshops-that-if-you-have-30-students-in-your/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Unfortunately, marketing textbooks is like marketing fishing lures: the point is to catch fishermen, not fish. Thus many adopted textbooks are flashy to catch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/unfortunately-marketing-textbooks-is-like-marketing-fishing-lures-the/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/as-a-result-of-the-sufferings-and-hard-labor-they-endured-the-indians/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [I think the first important thing is that usually most textbooks are not written by their authors. And so by author I mean the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/i-think-the-first-important-thing-is-that-usually-most-textbooks-are/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Teachers need to teach the subject rather than to teach the textbook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/teachers-need-to-teach-the-subject-rather-than-to-teach-the-textbook/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [“No matter how thoroughly Native Americans acculturated, they could not succeed in white society. Whites would not let them. 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Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [Students will start finding history interesting when their teachers and textbooks stop lying to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/students-will-start-finding-history-interesting-when-their-teachers/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [“Students exit history textbooks without having developed the ability to think coherently about social life. Even”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/students-exit-history-textbooks-without-having-developed-the-ability/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [History can be a weapon, and it can be used against you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/history-can-be-a-weapon-and-it-can-be-used-against-you/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) [Explore all 54 James W. Loewen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) ## More Cognitive dissonance quotes > [“Reality Check His lying is not contigent on who you are or what you do. His lying is not your fault. Lying is his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-forward/reality-check-his-lying-is-not-contigent-on-who-you-are-or-what-you/) [Susan Forward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-forward/) > [“I see an actress smoking a cigarette in an old Fred McMurray movie. She’s clever and beautiful and manipulative. I feel envy. 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Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-position-that-leaves-me-with-no-cognitive-dissonance-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 73 Cognitive dissonance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cognitive-dissonance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The textbooks also fail to show how the continuous Indian wars have reverberated through our culture. Carleton Beals has written that \"our acquiescence in Indian dispossession has molded the American character.\" As soon as Natives were no longer conflict partners, their image deteriorated in the minds of many whites. Kupperman has shown how this process unfolded in Virginia after the Indian defeat in the 1640s: \"It was the ultimate powerlessness of the Indians, not their racial inferiority, which made it possible to see them as people without rights.\" Natives who had been \"ingenious,\" \"industrious,\" and \"quick of apprehension\" in 1610 now became \"sloathfull and idle, vitious, melancholy, [and] slovenly.\" This is another example of the process of cognitive dissonance.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "James W. 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