American Quarterly

Berenson, Edward, 1949-
The Use and Abuse of History
American Quarterly - Volume 48, Number 3, September 1996, pp. 507-515

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Edward Berenson - Book Review: The Use and Abuse of History (Review of Lloyd Kramer, Donald Reid, and William L. Barney, Learning history in America) - American Quarterly 48:3 American Quarterly 48.3 (1996) 507-515 The Use and Abuse of History Edward Berenson Learning History in America. By Lloyd Kramer, Donald Reid, and William L. Barney, eds. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994. 225 pages. $39.95 (cloth), $15.95 (paper). How much do Americans care about history? Far too little, most historians have long believed. But thanks to the ongoing controversy over the national standards for history, that assessment needs to be revised. In October 1994, the publication of a 265-page document entitled National Standards for United States History: Exploring the American Experience unexpectedly catapulted history into the center of a national debate. On the surface, it is not immediately apparent why these national standards should have created a media sensation. They appeared without advertising in a modest volume self-published by the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. But certain key national figures took notice, launching a vociferous attack against the standards for being so multicultural and so politically correct that they supposedly ignored the basics of American history. Leading the charge was Lynn Cheney, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who denounced the...