Ward, Kyle 1969-

PERSONAL: Born 1969.

ADDRESSES: Home— Terre Haute, IN. Office— Department of History, Vincennes University, 1002 N. 1st St., Vincennes, IN 47591.

CAREER: Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN, assistant professor of history and political science.

WRITINGS

In the Shadow of Glory: The Thirteenth Minnesota in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, 1898-1899, North Star Press of St. Cloud (St. Cloud, MN), 2000.

(With Dana Lindaman) History Lessons: How Textbooks from around the World Portray U.S. History, New Press (New York, NY), 2004.

History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years, New Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Kyle Ward, who teaches history and political science, is the author of a number of books, including, with Dana Lindaman, History Lessons: How Textbooks from around the World Portray U.S. History. The book notes that American history is seen from a different perspective by other participants in its creation. For example, the Monroe Doctrine and the Great Depression are viewed by textbooks in the Caribbean as being notable for their impact on sugar prices. Canadian textbooks note the importance of that country’s participation in World War II and in the development of the atom bomb.

Daniel Swift wrote in a New York Times Book Review article: “Much entertainment is to be found in what’s excluded and included. An excerpt from a British textbook on the American Revolution snootily refers to ‘the colonies’ . . . and notes that Tom Paine, the author of Common Sense and godfather of America, ‘earned a living first as a maker of ladies’ underwear.’”

Swift felt that in certain instances, the authors are dismissive of entries found in history books, including one in a Cuban book that states that the Americans, not the Spanish, blew up the U.S.S. Maine, leading to American participation in the Spanish-Cuban War and eventual invasion of Cuba, an idea that Ward and Lindaman call a “conspiracy theory.” “In treating the Cuban argument so offhand[ed]ly,” wrote Swift, “Lindaman and Ward diminish the valuable lessons of their own shocking and fascinating book.” Other opposing versions of history include a Saudi Arabian entry that claims that all American intervention in the Middle East is part of a war on Islam.

History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years shows, in but one example, how the historical treatment of Native Americans changed over time. In writing the chapter “Slavery in America,” Ward takes passages from nine textbooks that were published from 1851 to 1995. He studies the treatment of such well-known events as the battle for the Alamo and the Boston Tea Party, and notable people from the past, including Presidents Washington and Lincoln. Library Journal contributor Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr. wrote: “This thought-provoking study is ideal for history buffs and the general public.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Booklist, Jay Freeman, review of History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years, p. 19.

Foreign Affairs, January-February, 2005, Walter Russell Mead, review of History Lessons: How Textbooks from around the World Portray U.S. History, p. 187.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2006, review of History in the Making, p. 718.

Library Journal, June 1, 2004, Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr., review of History Lessons, p. 153; September 1, 2006, Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr., review of History in the Making, p. 160.

New York Times Book Review, July 4, 2004, Daniel Swift, review of History Lessons..*