Answers a fifth grader should know: Thomas Woods' answer to the historical illiteracy permeating the land is his latest work entitled 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask.(33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask)(Book review)

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33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., New York: Crown Forum, 2007, 307 pages, hardcover, $25.95.

Recent polls offer a somber assessment of the state of the knowledge of our nation's populace in the area of American history: more Americans can name the main characters in the long-running television cartoon The Simpsons than can name the amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights. But the problem is not just limited to how little the American people as a whole know about our heritage; it extends to the "history" many of us think we know that is distorted if not false.

In fact, it wouldn't be prudent to try to enumerate the many historical untruths, distortions, and outfight lies that are listed in textbooks, for that list would require the entire magazine's editorial pages for a few issues. Suffice to say, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and the other Founders of our nation have been reduced to slaveholding racists; great men such as Andrew Jackson and John Calhoun are no longer mentioned at all; and in these gentlemen's stead are stories of oppression and persecution by the "intolerant, white, Christian majority" both real and imagined.

This lack of knowledge about what literature teachers call "dead white men" may not alarm the average American--but it should. To paraphrase Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote of the brutalities of communist Russia, "When you sever the historical roots of a people you destroy the nation." How? Future generations of Americans cannot be prepared to fight for the ideals, history, and direction of the country if they don't have any idea of what their ancestors did, what they endured, and how they confronted those circumstances.

After these ties are severed, a false past can be taught that will effectively create a guilt-ridden populace who believe that their ancestors were racist, intolerant bigots. Once this foundation of collective guilt is laid, then almost any radical, ill-advised change can be made to the fundamental structure of our government, as long as the change is promoted as "increasing justice and equality"--whether such a claim is true or not.

Thankfully, one accomplished historian is doing the part of 100 in trying to reverse the tide of historical illiteracy that permeates the land. Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. has just penned the companion to his 2005 New York Times best-selling book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. Woods' latest book, 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask, serves as an excellent antidote for those who have spent the better portions of their lives being spoon-fed lies and fabrications.