The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

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The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History
Woods-politicallyincorrect.jpg
Author Thomas E. Woods
LanguageEnglish
Series The Politically Incorrect Guide
Publisher Regnery Publishing
Publication date
December 2004
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeHardback & Paperback
Pages270
ISBN 978-0895260475

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History is a work of paleoconservative [ citation needed ] literature covering various issues in U.S. history by Thomas E. Woods, published in December 2004. This book was the first in the Politically Incorrect Guide series published by Regnery Publishing, who view the series as covering topics without consideration for political correctness. [1] The book was present on The New York Times best-seller list for many weeks. [2]

Contents

Background and contents

The book challenges modern notions of American history; the author argues, among other viewpoints, that America's founding fathers were conservatives, the War on Poverty made poverty worse and that hundreds of American liberals had ties to the Soviet Union during the McCarthy Era. It also contests the cost-effectiveness of government projects, especially the Transcontinental Railroad.[ citation needed ]

Various writers have noted pro-Confederate themes in the book. [3] [4] [5] It is described in the book Neo-Confederacy as a "neo-Confederate text" that says slavery was benign. [3] Woods acknowledges Clyde N. Wilson and Donald Livingston as having helped to develop his book. [3]

The book also discusses American foreign policy, and notably claims that the death toll of the Kosovo War was smaller than 2,500. [6]

Reception

The book was promoted on Fox News, and was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction books, reaching 8th place in January 2005. [3]

In an editorial in the Times that month, Adam Cohen said "it is tempting to dismiss the book as fringe scholarship, not worth worrying about, but the numbers say otherwise." [3] [7] Cohen described the book as "a checklist of arch-conservative talking points" which opposed civil rights and promoted discredited theories such as nullification. [7]

Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Max Boot published a critique of the book in The Weekly Standard in February 2005. Boot labeled Woods' pro-secessionist views as a "Bizarro world". Boot also criticized Woods for what he saw as ignoring African-Americans' struggle for civil rights and ignoring the fact that Clinton's intervention in the Balkans stopped a potential genocide. [8]

Also in February, libertarian columnist Cathy Young agreed with some of the book's views of free-market economics, but harshly criticized Woods' handling of the topic of slavery: "Unfortunately, whatever solid arguments this book has can only be tainted by association with Woods's ultra-reactionary extremism." [9] [3]

Historian David Greenberg in March dismissed Woods as a "hitherto unknown assistant professor" and his book as "a brisk tour of U.S. history from Colonial to Clintonian times, filtered through a lens of far-right dogma, circa 1939" that is "incorrect in more than just its politics" and that "would be tedious to debunk." [10]

Law professor Eric L. Muller has been frequently cited as a critic of the book, linking its views to the neo-Confederate organization the League of the South. [11] [5] Woods was one of the founding members of the League of the South. [3]

Judge James Haley praised the book in the conservative Weekly Standard as "a compelling rebuttal to the liberal sentiment encrusted upon current history texts." [12]

Related Research Articles

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly since October 12, 1931. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and e-books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Daughters of the Confederacy</span> American hereditary association

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, and the promotion of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James M. McPherson</span> American historian (born 1936)

James Munro McPherson is an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regnery Publishing</span> Conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C.

Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947. In December 2023, Regnery was acquired from Salem Media Group by Skyhorse Publishing, with Skyhorse president Tony Lyons becoming Regnery's publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Boot</span> Russian-American writer and historian (born 1969)

Max Boot is a Russian-born naturalized American author, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian. He worked as a writer and editor for The Christian Science Monitor and then for The Wall Street Journal in the 1990s. Since then, he has been the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributor to The Washington Post. He has written for such publications as The Weekly Standard, the Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times, and he has authored books of military history. In 2018, Boot published The Road Not Taken, a biography of Edward Lansdale, which was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for biography, and The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right, which details Boot's "ideological journey from a 'movement' conservative to a man without a party", in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. His biography of Ronald Reagan, Reagan: His Life and Legend, was a New York Times Bestseller and named one of the New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2024, as well as one of the year's best books by The Washington Post and The New Yorker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-Confederates</span> Modern American political grouping

Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other neo-Confederate organizations continue to defend the secession of the 11 former Confederate States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas DiLorenzo</span> American economist (born 1954)

Thomas James DiLorenzo is an American author and former university economics professor who is the President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He has written books denouncing President Abraham Lincoln and is well known among economists for his work chronicling the history of antitrust policy in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sons of Confederate Veterans</span> American neo-Confederate organization

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of the South</span> American white supremacist organization

The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization that says its goal is "a free and independent Southern republic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Cause of the Confederacy</span> Negationist myth of the American Civil War

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. First enunciated in 1866, it has continued to influence racism, gender roles, and religious attitudes in the Southern United States into the 21st century. Historians have dismantled many parts of the Lost Cause mythos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Woods</span> American academic

Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. is an American author, podcast host, and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute. A proponent of the Austrian School of economics, Woods hosts a daily podcast, The Tom Woods Show, and formerly co-hosted the weekly podcast Contra Krugman.

Southern Partisan is a neo-Confederate online magazine based in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. It is focused on the Southern region and states that were formerly members of the Confederate States of America. Founded in 1979 as Southern Partisan Quarterly Review, its first editor was Thomas Fleming. From 1999 to 2009 it was edited by Christopher Sullivan. After 2009 it ceased print publication and is now only online. It has been called "arguably the most important neo-Confederate periodical" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

<i>The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government</i> 1881 book by Jefferson Davis

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) is a book written by Jefferson Davis, who served as President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an apologia for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War.

Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Elmwood, Louisiana, with a New Orleans postal address. It was acquired in 2019 by Arcadia Publishing, a leading publisher of local and regional content in the United States.

North and South is a 1980s trilogy of best-selling novels by John Jakes which take place before, during, and after the American Civil War. The saga tells the story of the enduring friendship between Orry Main of South Carolina and George Hazard of Pennsylvania, who become best friends while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point but later find themselves and their families on opposite sides of the war. The slave-owning Mains are rural gentleman planters while the big-city Hazards live by manufacturing and industry, their differences reflecting the real divisions between North and South which ultimately led to war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Starnes</span> American journalist (born 1967)

Todd Starnes is a conservative American columnist, commentator, author and radio host. He has appeared on Fox & Friends and Hannity. In June 2017, Starnes began hosting a syndicated talk radio show on Fox News Radio. In October 2019, he was fired from Fox News and all affiliates after he endorsed the notion that American Democrats worship a pagan god, Moloch. In January 2020, Starnes, via his Starnes Media Group, purchased Memphis talk station 990 AM KWAM and translator 107.9 W300DE from Legacy Media for $685,000. KWAM will be the flagship station for Starnes' radio show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intercollegiate Studies Institute</span> American conservative organization

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsors lectures and debates on college campuses, publishes books and journals, provides funding and editorial assistance to the Collegiate Network, a support program conservative and libertarian college newspapers, and finances graduate fellowships.

<i>Time to Get Tough</i> 2011 book by Donald Trump

Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again is a non-fiction book by Donald Trump. It was published in hardcover format by Regnery Publishing in 2011, and reissued under the title Time to Get Tough: Make America Great Again! in 2015 to match Trump's 2016 election campaign slogan. Trump had previously published The America We Deserve (2000) as preparation for his attempt to run in the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign with a populist platform. Time to Get Tough in contrast served as his prelude to the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, with a conservative platform.

Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. is an American author and military historian who specializes in the German war effort during World War II and the Confederate war effort during the American Civil War. He is the author of more than 40 books and has collaborated with other historians such as Gene Mueller.

Thomas Housch Benton is an American Republican politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from the 31st district from 2005 to 2023. He has been repeatedly criticized for neo-Confederate comments.

References

  1. "Anti-PC series takes on history, Islam, feminism - Striving to be 'incorrect'". The Washington Times. July 20, 2006.
  2. New York Times "Bestseller List" (Paperback non-fiction), 9 January 2005
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi; Sebesta, Edward H. (2009). Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. University of Texas Press. p. 36. ISBN   978-0-292-77921-1 . Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  4. Kirchick, James (2008-01-08). "Angry White Man". The New Republic. ISSN   0028-6583 . Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  5. 1 2 Muller, Eric (February 6, 2005). "What You Should Know About the Author of the NYT Bestseller, Politically Incorrect Guide to American History". historynewsnetwork.org. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  6. "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods, JR". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  7. 1 2 Cohen, Adam (26 January 2005). "Opinion | The Difference Between Politically Incorrect and Historically Wrong". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  8. Boot, Max (15 February 2005). "Incorrect History". The Weekly Standard. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  9. Young, Cathy (21 February 2005). "Last of the Confederates". Boston Globe. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  10. Greenberg, David (2005-03-11). "History for Dummies: The troubling popularity of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History". Slate Magazine . Archived from the original on 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  11. Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers (2014-07-30). "Review Essay of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods, Jr" . Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  12. "The Standard Reader". 31 January 2005.