“We Have Never Known What Death Was Before” U.S. History Textbooks and the Civil War

Abstract

Textbooks are a significant element of the social studies curriculum and teacher pedagogical choice (Apple, 2004; Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991). Students’ views of American history are dramatically affected by the textbook narratives to which they are exposed, and teachers often tilt their curricular choices based on the textbooks available to them (Luke, 2006 Schug, Western & Enochs, 1997). The history of our nation's armed conflicts is often presented, through our textbooks and our pedagogy, as a history of reluctant violence, which promotes a particular moral agenda that exerts control over our students’ future beliefs and decisions. This is particularly important with regard to our textbook depictions of the U.S. Civil War, which holds a curricular status as a necessary and moral conflict. This study examines the manner in which U.S. history textbooks present the U.S. Civil War, as compared to relevant historiography, and presents recommendations for how teachers may approach the moral realities of war with their students.