Brief History: The Textbook Wars

Bettmann / Corbis

Books handed out to Texas' 4.7 million students often end up in classrooms nationwide.

It's often been said that history is written by the victors. This was never more true than on March 12, when the Texas board of education voted 10-5 in favor of curriculum standards that would promote conservative takes on controversial issues in the pages of the state's textbooks. The changes, expected to win final approval in May, include an increased emphasis on and sympathetic treatment of such Republican touchstones as the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority. They also tout the superiority of capitalism and the role of Christianity in the nation's founding. Even Thomas Jefferson's profile will be diminished;...

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