This Country of Ours --Problems?

[vwsmith]

What is wrong with TCOO?

 

PLEASE do not simply state that it is racist, inaccurate, or biased without any reference to what is in the book. I have read enough of these comments to make my head spin and they are of no help. I'm hoping for more specifics to make a more informed decision.

 

Oh, and what would you replace it with?

 

Of course, if you don't have a problem with it, I'd like to know that too.

 

TIA!

[Laura Corin]

I used it, discussing it with my son on the way. I wouldn't have used it with a younger child who wasn't ready to discuss bias. This is the kind of thing you find:

 

[Columbus' landing] '... and as they neared the shore the men saw naked savages crowding to the beach.' [note opposition made between 'men' and 'savages'].

 

Some native Americans are described as 'friendly' but the conquest is throughout described in terms of how splendid it was that Europeans took over:

 

[John Cabot] 'We remember him chiefly because he was the first to lead Englishmen across the Atlantic, and the first to plant the flag of England on the Continent of North America, which, in days to come, was to be the home of two great English-speaking peoples.'

 

Another quote:

 

[Harriet Tubman]'...She was nearly white, but had been a slave herself.'

 

Laura

[stripe]

Why not read it yourself if you want to make up your own mind? It's freely available online.

 

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/marshall/country/country.html

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=marshall&book=country&story=_contents

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3761

 

Or listen

http://librivox.org/this-country-of-ours-part-1-by-he-marshall/