A slow, stately procession wound around the couch where I sat trying to get through a few pages of reading. All five kids were swathed about the middle in towels, and my 5-year-old had rigged some sort of rigid contraption to his chin. Resting on a couch pillow, a stuffed animal was borne aloft over the heads of the motley crowd. Watching from a corner of my eye, I slowly realized that I was a witness to the splendid funeral of Tutankhamen. The procession headed off solemnly toward an unseen tomb in the hallway.
Book forgotten, I stared after them in delight. History had lifted itself off the school book pages and had become an imaginative world they could step into and explore.
Copious ink has been spilled on the stunning historical illiteracy of modern Americans, from pens on the left, right, and center. We’ve seen the surveys estimating that more than 80 percent of college seniors failed a high school history exam and that eighth grade history scores have stalled at a dismal level for at least the past 30 years. Generations of educators, parents, and students have taken history very lightly: My mother still complains that her sole high school history class in salt-of-the-earth Nebraska was “the history of the Beatles.”
The upshot? American national identity is in tatters. As Secretary of Education Linda McMahon noted in a speech at Hillsdale last year, “We’ve seen real American history stripped out of the curriculum, and the heritage of our country denigrated by both rogue professors and official university statements. … It’s little surprise that a poll this year found only 41% of 18-29 year olds today are proud to be American. Why would they be? They don’t know the first thing about America.”
The Trump administration’s Freedom 250 project in honor of the nation’s birthday is attempting to jump-start interest by hosting high school history competitions and civic programming over the course of the year. At the core of this initiative is the concern that students are learning left-wing narratives instead of an appreciation for the American founding and ideals. But there is a daunting amount of ground to be covered if we are to reverse a calamity decades in the making.
Americans do not learn history because we have forgotten how to tell history. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the American Historical Association, a majority of both conservatives and leftists viewed history as just a collection of facts forced upon them in high school and college. History cannot be a cure for social ills unless it is learned well. But when history is taught as dry facts, many students rightfully tune out.
For history to remedy poor political thinking or restore national identity, it must become an exciting, living story that holds deep meaning for our children. Children have not lost interest in compelling stories, nor have they stopped wanting to emulate charismatic characters. My 3-year-old wears his medieval knight costume like a second skin. If we want our high schoolers and college students to take seriously the lessons that history can teach, they must first fall in love with the story of history before they even open their first textbook.
This school year, my children and I discovered a book series of history for children that went out of print before I was born. Through the 1950s, ’60s, and early ’70s, Random House published more than 200 narrative history books written by renowned scholars and authors, winners of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize, including Robert Penn Warren, C.S. Forrester, Pearl S. Buck, and Harry Emerson Fosdick. J. Edgar Hoover wrote one of the forewords. Intended for preteens and young teenagers, the series takes both history and children seriously, in prose that will impress even an adult.
As our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, my young children are busy landing with the Pilgrims, founding Jamestown, campaigning with General Braddock toward Fort Duquesne, and meeting Daniel Boone as he forged the Wilderness Road. We have listened to Whigs and Tories debate whether to remain with Mother England or “to assume among the powers of the earth” a “separate and equal station.” Benedict Arnold’s name has become a household insult. We rejoiced with William Clark upon seeing the Pacific Ocean. We have sworn to remember the Alamo. By July, I hope to have marched my little army to Gettysburg, where we will set down the books for a moment and visit the battlefield on its anniversary.
As a homeschooling mom, I read during breakfast. The books could easily be a bedtime read for those families in other educational set-ups. My fourth grader could read the books herself, but I read out loud to everyone. There has not been a single book where they do not beg for just another chapter.
Many history books alienate children by gawking at the foreign past. The Landmark authors, by contrast, genuinely love their topics. They do not shy away from the darker elements of American history. They accept the fallible men and sins of our history as the texture of greatness — the essence of story. Those opposed to the American experiment are treated with dignity rather than stereotype.
Unfortunately, you cannot walk to your nearest bookstore and pick up a Landmark box set. Even most libraries no longer carry them. They are scattered around private collections, used book stores, and eBay. Some of the titles can be found digitized on various websites. Several homeschool blogs list out the titles in chronological order. At least one small press has started reissuing individual titles in the Landmark series, but with 200 titles in the series, many more publishing houses and homeschool programs should join the effort. Influencers who want to help America rediscover its history should promote the series. Libraries, especially school libraries, should purchase them for their catalog.
“Men’s lives are changed in odd ways without their realizing it. A boat missed, a talk with a stranger, a thoughtless choice at the crossroads to turn right instead of left, or a knock on a door, and not only can a man’s living be altered but history can be given a new course.” This offhand remark from Landmark author John Mason Brown in his telling of Daniel Boone could be a motto for the series. A child’s reading of good history could change their life — and our nation.
