Description

For decades history textbooks have been the
cornerstone for what millions of American students
have learned about their nation s historic past.
Often used as the main source for curriculum by
numerous teachers over the years, these massive works
are often considered bland and boring by the students
forced to read them. Found in nearly every high
school history classroom the textbook plays a key
role in how students learn their history.
Since history textbooks play such an important part
in the history education curriculum this study
specifically looked at U.S. history textbooks to see
how they portrayed the Pacific War (1941-1945) to
American students. The research for this project
looked at how academic historians wrote about this
subject, how social studies/history education
professional journals and magazines suggested this
topic be taught, and it analyzed educational
initiatives to see if any, or all of these areas had
an impact on what students found inside their U.S.
history textbooks. This study should help those
interested in the historiography of the Pacific War
as well as being useful to those interested in
history education in the United States.