"Award-winning poet and critic Kevin Young traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon--the legacy of P.T. Barnum's 'humbug' culminating with the currency of Donald J. Trump's 'fake news'. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, with race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended...

Examines thirteen well-known American stories, including those about Paul Revere's legendary ride and Thomas Jefferson's pivotal role in the establishment of American equality, contending that many of their surrounding myths are not supported by recent scholarship.

This book guides readers through ten pervasive fictions about medieval history, provides them with the sources and analytical tools to critique those fictions, and identifies what really happened in the Middle Ages. Provides an overview of a particular historical misconception and its corresponding truth. Presents primary source documents to help readers to see how the misconceptions developed and spread, and provide evidence for what we now believe...

A historian and author of the popular daily newsletter Letters from an American explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy--and how we can turn back.

"Thanksgiving is a popular holiday in the United States. But many people don't know the true or whole history of the holiday. Readers will learn how Thanksgiving started and its lasting legacy in the U.S."--