In a country that cannot come to a consensus on fundamental questions - how restricted capitalism should be, whether immigrants are a burden or a boon, to what extent the legacy of slavery continues to shape American life - textbook publishers are caught in the middle. Hundreds of differences - some subtle, others extensive - emerged in a New York Times analysis of eight commonly used American history textbooks in California and Texas, two of the nation’s largest markets. But they are customized for students in different states, and their contents sometimes diverge in ways that reflect the nation’s deepest partisan divides. The self-evident truths of the founding documents to the waves of immigration that reshaped the nation.
The textbooks cover the same sweeping story, from the brutality of slavery to the struggle for civil rights. Here’s how political divides shape what students learn about the nation’s history. We analyzed some of the most popular social studies textbooks used in California and Texas.