Some myths don't die, and lies are still being told about Christopher
Columbus: that he "discovered" the Americas (not only was
the land familiar to native inhabitants, but it had also been visited
before by Europeans), that the land was sparsely populated by native
people (there were fourteen million inhabitants in 1492), that those
people were primitive (Europeans learned a lot and gained technology
and agricultural skill from Native Americans), and that they
submitted to Columbus's "God-like" authority (they
submitted to the deadly smallpox and bubonic plague that Columbus's
crew imported from Europe).
Lies My Teacher Told Me About
Christopher Columbus disproves the myths about Columbus still
enshrined in American textbooks with quotations from primary source
material that sets the record straight. The poster and accompanying
48-;page paperback book sum up the mistellings--and reveal the real
story--in a graphically appealing and accessible format that shows
the degree to which textbooks have "lied" by knowingly
substituting crowd-pleasing myths for grim and gruesome historical
evidence.