Summary
The book introduces African terminology to make a distinction between those still alive, those recently departed but still remembered by the living (the sasha), and those who are ancestrally dead, having died before anyone still alive met them (the zamani) (233).
The author points out that textbooks are very uncomfortable with the second group, and prefer the third, who they can glorify without contest (234). He bewails the lack of treatment of the recent past in history textbooks, pointing out that it leaves high school students that ignorance about the recent past leaves students woefully unprepared to deal with their present.
In the next chapter, the author challenges the idea that "progress" is unquestionably a good thing and a boon to Western society. He says that intellectuals have been pushing back on that idea for sometime, with some arguing that that progress has led to "a profound and inevitable downturn" (253).
Social Darwinism no longer fits our society since it is much more complex than its predecessors. Biological theories have also been replaced with a more complex view. There were several changes in ideas that occurred as a result of the world wars, but textbooks often do not address them due to skirting ideas and controversy.
Textbooks also have a tendency to oversimplify problems and their solutions. No sooner does a problem appear than suddenly there is a solution. There is no discussion of the failures before the ultimate solution, which fails to enrich students' understanding of their own history.
For example, the energy crises of 1973 and 1979 illustrate that capitalism has a hard time coping with shortages, because it was not designed for that, says the author (254). When demand outstrips supply, capitalism sees it as a great thing, not something that deprives and hurts people.
Americans, instead of becoming more tolerant and gaining progress that way, are instead becoming less so. Everyone must conform to certain expectations—as a small example, no white presidential candidate has sported facial hair since 1948 (249).
Analysis
Loewen returns to one of his central themes in "Down the Memory Hole," demonstrating again how textbooks obfuscate the truth, this time taking issue with the recent past and how it is rarely spoken of in history class. This is something that most students across America have realized and questioned at some point in their high school career. The author begins this chapter in very interesting way, choosing to elaborate on three terms used in African societies to describe when events occurred. This choice is very deliberate, and serves to bring race and the difference across societies into the discussion immediately. The Kiswahili terms are a deft lens for examining how we should categorize and examine the past while taking into account living testaments and anecdotes (233).
The US likes to think of itself as exceptional and benevolent, as discussed in previous chapter, but by beginning the chapter with the examination of the three African terms, the author is demonstrating that other societies, perhaps even those whose descendants were most discriminated against in the US, offer a better way of looking at things and examining the recent past with an unflinching eye. The author takes issue with the lack of photos showing Americans in a negative light, even those soldiers during the Vietnam War who committed unspeakable acts of horror.
It is worth noting here that the author largely refrains from hyperbole or dramatic flairs during his discussion of the recent past, a conscious choice as many texts about the recent past are more biased than those of more distant event. Though he discusses emotional topics like the Vietnam War and the horrific photos it produced, the author tries to be objective, allowing the material to speak for itself.
The author returns to his scathing criticism of progress, and notes that the more 'progressive' a society is, the more atrocities it seems to commit. He also dispels the notion that more 'primitive' societies are less cultured, have shorter life spans, and are more violent. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The emphasis on progress actually helps keep students passive and uncritical of the path the country is on, which complicates matters when in a few years, they are called upon to vote and join in finding solutions to problems that they lack the backstory and context for.
Loewen uses the example of Vietnam to illustrate this, noting how though many educated voters supported the war, afterwards, when polled again many educated voters said they were less supportive of the war than previously (221). By demonstrating this change, Loewen shows that class is always present in the US, even when we do not realize it, thus recalling the themes from his earlier chapter when he discussed the correlation of SAT scores to class (162).
