Lonestar Textbook Revisionists

WHAT is this business about the Texas ignoranti "rewriting" school textbooks? Joe McCarthy is now an admirable historical figure? Church and State are no longer separate? The part that's the most infuriating is the common wisdom that since Texas buys such a large volume of textbooks, these revisions will be in the books all across the country.

Without getting into the (non-existent) merits of the board's revisions, why would a legitimate publisher of history textbooks let a customer rewrite the history based on their (the Texas school board's) political agenda? Are they -- the publishers -- not the experts on history? If they are willing to just change it because one of their big customers leans on them, why would any other school system want to buy their books? That's like a news organization caving to the demands of a big advertiser and not reporting news about which that advertiser has a business interest. That news organization would be discredited, as should any publisher of history books that rewrites history for the "Texas Account."

School boards that function in the civilized world need to stick together and face down this threat. Tell these publishers that we expect legitimate historians to write history, not small-minded political hacks and bigots. There are plenty of publishing industry professionals looking for opportunities these days. If the major textbook publishers are going to throw away their credibility, this could be a gift to an entrepreneur.