American Historical Association

From the Letters to the Editor column of the September 2005 Perspectives

A Modest Proposal

To the Editor:

It is unfortunate that in his essay, "A Modest Proposal" (Perspectives, May 2005), Peter Stearns promotes the perpetuation of the U.S.-centric approach to history survey courses. He also continues the confounding of "the West" with western Europe. As I argue in my recent article "Eastern Europe in Western Civilization Textbooks" in the History Teacher 38:2 (February 2005), 153–77, both of these biases present students with a distorted and incomplete view of the history of Europe.

—John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago

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