Some myths don't die, and lies are still being told about Christopher
Columbus: that he "discovered" the Americas (not only was the land
familiar to native inhabitants, but it had also been visited before by
Europeans), that the land was sparsely populated by native people (there
were fourteen million inhabitants in 1492), that those people were
primitive (Europeans learned a lot and gained technology and
agricultural skill from Native Americans), and that they submitted to
Columbus's "God-like" authority (they submitted to the deadly smallpox
and bubonic plague that Columbus's crew imported from Europe).
Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus disproves the myths
about Columbus still enshrined in American textbooks with quotations
from primary source material that sets the record straight. The poster
and accompanying 48-;page paperback book sum up the mistellings--and
reveal the real story--in a graphically appealing and accessible format
that shows the degree to which textbooks have "lied" by knowingly
substituting crowd-pleasing myths for grim and gruesome historical
evidence.