The second chapter from Lies My Teacher Told Me describes how much importance has been given to Christopher Columbus in American textbooks. Christopher Columbus has been humanized and glorified as a brave man and an ideal hero. But according to Loewen, this justification of Columbus is completely wrong. Loewen has stated that these textbooks are a distortion of information and a combination of half-truths, truths, and omissions.
Loewen states that the other explorers such as Vikings and Africans had traveled to America before Columbus. But all these facts have not been told in order to preserve a glorified view of Europe but deep down of it, racism and prejudice against other nations are hidden. Loewen has stated that Europe came to explore America for certain factors including its military knowledge, social technology, protection to diseases, and having a religious justification for war. The textbooks have omitted the fact that the natives were oppressed, enslaved, and were almost wiped out in the due process. I have been greatly surprised by the disparity and misrepresentation in the textbooks and it has definitely changed the way I used to comprehend the historic events. The content has shown both sides of the exploitation.