Erasing History by Jason Stanley

ERASING HISTORY by Jason Stanley is subtitled “How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future” and we have certainly heard the term fascist quite frequently in this election cycle. According to the publisher, Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, “exposes the true danger of the authoritarian right’s attacks on education, identifies their key tactics and funders, and traces their intellectual roots.” Stanley points to the importance of multiple perspectives and says that “erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to represent it as a single story, a single perspective.” He is apparently not the only one to feel this way; one of the most chilling quotes is from Vladimir Putin: “Wars are won by teachers.” Stanley writes movingly and convincingly:

“Today we are unquestionably returning to something like the era of the Red Scare. Right-wing activists and politicians are targeting educators at all levels for their supposedly leftist ideologies, with the goal of suppressing any teaching that challenges racial hierarchy or patriarchy.”  And

“By removing the history of uprisings against the current status quo from the curriculum (or never allowing that history to be taught in the first place), authoritarians leave students with the impression that the status quo has never been -- and cannot be -- challenged.”

Student researchers will find much to ponder here, particularly about how education, knowledge, and critical thinking skills provide the foundation for democracy, agency, and self-rule. Unlike those who blame the “enemy within,” Stanley stresses the importance of educators and investigative journalists. Those concerned with the future of democracy will find this text to be very informative. Approximately fifteen percent of ERASING HISTORY is devoted to notes and an index.