<p>March 16, 2010
Letters to NY Times</p>
<p>The Battle Over Textbooks in Texas </p>
<p>To the Editor:</p>
<p>Re Conservatives on Texas Panel Carry the Day on Curriculum Change (news article, March 13):</p>
<p>As a co-author of an American history textbook that was effectively banned in Texas eight years ago, I had a strong feeling of déjà vu all over again while reading about the states latest curricular wars.</p>
<p>Back in 2002 the school board, egged on by well-organized conservative groups with deep pockets, excluded Out of Many: A History of the American People (Pearson Prentice Hall), allegedly for an offensive passage discussing prostitution on the Western frontier. But the real reason became clear as that controversy played out, and I think that it helps explain whats happening today.</p>
<p>Many conservatives are simply unwilling to accept how much the writing and teaching of American history have changed over the last 40 years. They want an American history that ignores or marginalizes African-Americans, women, Latinos, immigrants and popular culture. They prefer a pseudo-patriotic history that denies the fundamental conflicts that have shaped our past.</p>
<p>Rather than acknowledge that genuine disagreements over interpretation and emphasis are the lifeblood of history, they reduce it all to a cartoonish process of balancing bias. This sort of right-wing political correctness impoverishes our students and teachers.</p>
<p>Daniel Czitrom
South Hadley, Mass., March 14, 2010</p>
<p>The writer is a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College.</p>