The Politically Incorrect Guide To American

Almost everything--you know about American history is wrong, because most textbooks and popular history books are written by left-wing academic historians who treat their biases as fact. But fear not, Professor Thomas Woods has written the perfect antidote. This delightful book--funny and inviting, but factually sound-shatters the myths about American history and separates fact from fiction.

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and a master's and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Woods is a contributor to five encyclopedias and dozens of popular and scholarly periodicals. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

Preface

xii

The Colonial Origins of American Liberty

1

(10)

Suspicion + Dislike = Liberty; A formula for freedom

Love thy neighbor? Colonial quarrels give birth to religious freedom

PC Myth: The Puritans were racists

No, the Puritans didn't steal Indian lands

Self-government is non-negotiable

America's Conservative Revolution

11

(6)

Colonial tradition or British innovation?

Fact: The American Revolution was not like the French Revolution

The Constitution

17

(14)

Constitution okay, say states, but we get to bolt just in case...

First Amendment: Feds must leave states alone

Second Amendment: It's okay to own a gun

Ninth Amendment: Just because it's not in the Bill of Rights doesn't mean it's not a right

Tenth Amendment: Whatever the states didn't let the Feds do was left to the states

War Powers: Congress wimps out on its responsibility

American Government and the ``Principles of '98''

31

(12)

Providing for the ``general welfare'': The roots of big government

The Republicans versus the Federalists

The North---South Division

43

(18)

You get Missouri, we get Maine

More rhetorical blows

Keep slavery out of the territories! (to reserve them for whites)

States fight over plantations in . . . Arizona?

It's about slavery, but it's not about slavery

The Kansas ``bloodbath''

The rise of the Republicans

Fact: Local southern judge freed Dred Scott

Lunatic on the loose: Murderer John Brown returns to the scene

The War Between the States

61

(16)

Was there an American civil war?

The states had the right to secede

Was the war fought to free slaves?

Reality check: Lincoln's views on race

Lincoln fought to ``save the Union'' . . . and consolidate its power

Why did the soldiers fight? The soldiers speak. . .

The rise of total war

Reconstruction

77

(16)

Lincoln, Johnson, and presidential Reconstruction

The South's black codes

The Fourteenth Amendment and states' rights

The first impeachment of a president

How Big Business Made Americans Better Off

93

(16)

How government promoted waste and corruption in railroad construction

How ``fairness'' crippled American farmers

The ``wicked'' Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie and the American standard of living

Herbert Dow: Forgotten American hero

Antitrust idiocy: Should antitrust laws be repealed?

World War I

109

(24)

Propaganda in wartime? It can't be!

Starving civilians is against the law

The Germans strike back

The sinking of the Lusitania

The Sussex pledge

The Germans make one last push

Why did Wilson favor war?

The peace conference: The disaster Wilson pretended not to notice

Opponents say we can't police the world!

``Bizarre'' and ``wild-eyed'': The Wilsonian program

Setting the stage for World War II

The Misunderstood Twenties

133

(6)

Voting for the anti-Wilson

The truth about the Twenties

The Great Depression and the New Deal

139

(18)

Hoover: A ``do nothing'' president? If only!

FDR comes to town

Let's help starving people by destroying food!

FDR's anti-business zealotry delays recovery

The consequences of labor legislation

The disaster of ``public works''

Not so fast, Court tells FDR

Did World War II lift America out of the Depression?

The military draft reduces unemployment!

Yes, Communist Sympathizers Really Existed

157

(16)

``I have been over into the future---and it works!''

The Soviet experiment: A model for America?

Labor unions speak: The merits of the Soviet system

Lighten up: It's all for ``the good of the masses of the working people''!

How Stalin starved his own people

The New York Times reporter who covered up Stalin's crimes

Stalin's show trials genuine, say bootlickers

Yes, Soviet spies were a problem

Joe McCarthy was a paranoid idiot, right?

The Approach of World War II

173

(10)

FDR tries to neutralize neutrality laws

The imperial presidency takes shape: Did FDR break the law?

The end of neutrality

How FDR got Americans into war

Did FDR make war with Japan inevitable?

World War II: Consequences and Aftermath

183

(12)

FDR and Uncle Joe---How friendly was FDR toward Stalin?

American presidents send a million Russians back to Stalin

An atrocity on American soil: Russians drugged and returned home

Was the Marshall Plan a great success or another failed giveaway program?

Truman disregards the Constitution

Civil Rights

195

(18)

Instead of law, sociology

From race neutrality to race obsession

Let's force those kids together---even if they have to be bused two hours a day!

The Kansas City fiasco

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

JFK and LBJ

213

(18)

Who was the real John F. Kennedy?

Lyndon Johnson: A legacy of failure

How '60s liberalism discouraged all the right things and encouraged all the wrong ones

Lack of jobs doesn't explain large welfare rolls

The Great Society and the Vietnam tragedy

The Decade of Greed?

231

(8)

How was Reagan different?

Charitable giving during the ``Decade of Greed''

The truth about Michael Milken, the man the media loved to hate

The myth of budget cuts

The tax bite

Clinton

239

Clinton, a ``centrist''?

``Only unqualified applicants may apply''

CNN foreign policy

Balkan misadventures: How Clinton abused power, abetted Islamists, lied, and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars for nothing

``The era of big government is over''---say what?

Bibliography

Index

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

The Politically Incorrect Guide To American History

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials