I read this book eight years ago. It was an interesting time to read it because I was sort of at the crossroads of my intellectual life….I needed something to push me one way or the other when it came to knowledge. It wasn’t so much the details in this book (though they were interesting) but more so the message that Loewen conveys: question everything. Question why the sky was blue. Question the language people use. Question ideas of “tradition.” It really got something kicking in me that led me where I am today. After reading it, I always said I would visit the University of Vermont because that’s where he taught for so long.
I never had a chance to visit…however—-I will be meeting him next week because he’s giving a lecture in town about a newer book he’s written titled Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. I have never been more excited about a lecture!
