America A Narrative History by George B. Tindall and David E. Shi
Who left that book on my desk?
This book covers American history from the aftermath of the Civil War until the 2000 presidential elections, which is about as close to ‘the present time’ as a history book can reach. (Volume 2 does not start with page 1, but picks up where Vol. 1 left off.)
I did not go forth and choose to read this book, as I did with other history overviews and biographies. Instead, I found it on the desk in the tutoring room, where someone else must have used it and abandoned it. I had no intention of reading it cover to cover. However, it’s a history book! I love history books! How could I ignore it? As a compromise, I decided to look at the pictures. Then I noticed something odd, but maybe I was imagining it. I decided to type a list of the pictures.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and 75 pictures times a thousand words is practically its own book. I can’t be the only one who flipped through this college text book and assumed the pictures would give me an overview. Therefore, I wondered if the pictorial overview gives a clear or distorted image of what America looks like.
I was right. According to this Norton History book, women in America seldom appear in public without a man. And they never, ever, go out in public with another woman but no man. Hundreds of pictures - but only six women alone, and exactly one of more than one woman without a man - and that’s a Tupperware party.
Did the Taliban edit this book? Or perhaps some well-meaning Christian organization? Sometimes, it’s hard to tell.
Dear Norton,
The pictures in this sixth edition of “America A Narrative History” disappointed me. In future editions, please be aware that, while men often go out in public together, so do women. Please reflect that in the pictures you choose to display in your book.
Thank you,
Sylvia McIvers.
NOTE 1: the letter C indicates that the picture is not a painting/photo but a newspaper cartoon. Many have people representing ideas and ideals, not living people. Women are almost never a caricature of a living person, but ONLY an ideal. (Sadly, LJ refuses to print the table.)
NOTE 2: Photographed/painted people tend to be white unless otherwise noted.
NOTE 3: There are more pictures including horses than there are pictures including Native Americans. Clearly, horses played a larger role in American History. The Picture Does Not Lie.
NOTE 4: There are an equal number of pictures of individual women as there are pictures including horses. Clearly, horses played an equal role in American History … The Picture Does Not Lie.
More notes:
* Page 621 has text about Ida B. Wells, but no photo. The text also tells of her family, while apparently, Washington and Dubois had no parents, didn’t marry, and had no children. Or perhaps they simply weren’t relevant, and Well’s family defined her, just as women in many of these pictures are defined by family.
* Page 667 shows Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Railway Union. He has a page of text. There is no corresponding picture of Mother Jones, dedicated union advocate, who also has a page of text - including her family! - but no corresponding picture, because everyone knows there were no women early in the labor movement.
* Page 709 almost, almost has a picture of America’s First Lady as an individual person, alone. Instead, she is reading to a child. Now I want a picture of Pres. Bush reading to kindergarteners when a plane flew into the World Trade Center, but that takes place after 2000… it’s too modern
* Page 788 shows a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Some people in the crown might be female, since most of the workers there were women. This would be a nice place for a group shot of women escaping the fire, or shivering after their escape. Surely such pictures exist?
Page 850 although the KKK marchers wear hoods, I feel safe labeling this picture as all male, since women didn’t have enough rank to join the march.
* Page 855: The well-dressed jazz singer (male) wears a jacket and tie, while the well-dressed jazz singer wears a dress that reveals the tops of her breasts and most of her thighs. Men dance athletically, and women basically lean over in case the audience didn’t see enough while she was standing upright. Male singers are dark skinned, female singers are so much lighter that I can’t tell if they’re supposed to be white. (black & white print, don’t know if the original was in color. Did they have color photography during the jazz age?)
* Page 857: A young woman and an older man are enthusiastically dancing the Charleston on the cover of Life magazine. The text on the same page talks about Margaret Sanger, who distributed birth control and went to jail for it. Clearly, according to the pictorial overview in Norton’s history book, the beginning of the birth control movement is much less relevant to life in 2000 (publishing date) than the Charleston.
* Page 860: The women marching wear skirts past their ankles, though not touching the floor - a sharp contrast to the flapper two pages ago, who’s dress is so short it shows the garters holding up her stockings.
* Page 1055: A Tupperware party! The one and only place where it is acceptable for women to gather without a man is... a Tupperware party. How modern of Norton to publish this photo of women!
This book covers American history from the aftermath of the Civil War until the 2000 presidential elections, which is about as close to ‘the present time’ as a history book can reach. (Volume 2 does not start with page 1, but picks up where Vol. 1 left off.)
I did not go forth and choose to read this book, as I did with other history overviews and biographies. Instead, I found it on the desk in the tutoring room, where someone else must have used it and abandoned it. I had no intention of reading it cover to cover. However, it’s a history book! I love history books! How could I ignore it? As a compromise, I decided to look at the pictures. Then I noticed something odd, but maybe I was imagining it. I decided to type a list of the pictures.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and 75 pictures times a thousand words is practically its own book. I can’t be the only one who flipped through this college text book and assumed the pictures would give me an overview. Therefore, I wondered if the pictorial overview gives a clear or distorted image of what America looks like.
I was right. According to this Norton History book, women in America seldom appear in public without a man. And they never, ever, go out in public with another woman but no man. Hundreds of pictures - but only six women alone, and exactly one of more than one woman without a man - and that’s a Tupperware party.
Did the Taliban edit this book? Or perhaps some well-meaning Christian organization? Sometimes, it’s hard to tell.
Dear Norton,
The pictures in this sixth edition of “America A Narrative History” disappointed me. In future editions, please be aware that, while men often go out in public together, so do women. Please reflect that in the pictures you choose to display in your book.
Thank you,
Sylvia McIvers.
NOTE 1: the letter C indicates that the picture is not a painting/photo but a newspaper cartoon. Many have people representing ideas and ideals, not living people. Women are almost never a caricature of a living person, but ONLY an ideal. (Sadly, LJ refuses to print the table.)
NOTE 2: Photographed/painted people tend to be white unless otherwise noted.
NOTE 3: There are more pictures including horses than there are pictures including Native Americans. Clearly, horses played a larger role in American History. The Picture Does Not Lie.
NOTE 4: There are an equal number of pictures of individual women as there are pictures including horses. Clearly, horses played an equal role in American History … The Picture Does Not Lie.
More notes:
* Page 621 has text about Ida B. Wells, but no photo. The text also tells of her family, while apparently, Washington and Dubois had no parents, didn’t marry, and had no children. Or perhaps they simply weren’t relevant, and Well’s family defined her, just as women in many of these pictures are defined by family.
* Page 667 shows Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Railway Union. He has a page of text. There is no corresponding picture of Mother Jones, dedicated union advocate, who also has a page of text - including her family! - but no corresponding picture, because everyone knows there were no women early in the labor movement.
* Page 709 almost, almost has a picture of America’s First Lady as an individual person, alone. Instead, she is reading to a child. Now I want a picture of Pres. Bush reading to kindergarteners when a plane flew into the World Trade Center, but that takes place after 2000… it’s too modern
* Page 788 shows a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Some people in the crown might be female, since most of the workers there were women. This would be a nice place for a group shot of women escaping the fire, or shivering after their escape. Surely such pictures exist?
Page 850 although the KKK marchers wear hoods, I feel safe labeling this picture as all male, since women didn’t have enough rank to join the march.
* Page 855: The well-dressed jazz singer (male) wears a jacket and tie, while the well-dressed jazz singer wears a dress that reveals the tops of her breasts and most of her thighs. Men dance athletically, and women basically lean over in case the audience didn’t see enough while she was standing upright. Male singers are dark skinned, female singers are so much lighter that I can’t tell if they’re supposed to be white. (black & white print, don’t know if the original was in color. Did they have color photography during the jazz age?)
* Page 857: A young woman and an older man are enthusiastically dancing the Charleston on the cover of Life magazine. The text on the same page talks about Margaret Sanger, who distributed birth control and went to jail for it. Clearly, according to the pictorial overview in Norton’s history book, the beginning of the birth control movement is much less relevant to life in 2000 (publishing date) than the Charleston.
* Page 860: The women marching wear skirts past their ankles, though not touching the floor - a sharp contrast to the flapper two pages ago, who’s dress is so short it shows the garters holding up her stockings.
* Page 1055: A Tupperware party! The one and only place where it is acceptable for women to gather without a man is... a Tupperware party. How modern of Norton to publish this photo of women!