FGV Press launches work discussing history textbooks

Textbooks have become news in both print and TV media outlets. From time to time, their authors are put on the hot seat, accused of providing inadequate information to readers. It is not by chance that some of the criticism against history books accuses them of ideological bias, as they deal with subjects that are surrounded by ideology, no matter their efforts to share impartial insights. That is exactly the subject of the work titled ‘Livros didáticos de história: entre políticas e narrativas’ [History textbooks: between policies and narratives], published by FGV Press. The book will be launched on August 17, at Blooks Livraria (Praia de Botafogo, 316. Rio de Janeiro), at 7 p.m.

Organized by professors Helenice Rocha, Luiz Reznik, and Marcelo de Souza Magalhães, longtime scholars of history teaching in Brazil, this collection is the result of years of research and brings together a number of renowned experts, arriving at an opportune time to compile thought-provoking reflections that do justice to the successive character of the matter, making an important contribution to the debate regarding the future of history teaching in Brazil.

On the one hand, the book sheds light onto the social criticism and public policies textbooks that need to consider such criticisms as an expression of society for the formulation of its actions; while on the other hand, the work addresses the concrete object of the various criticisms, which is what history textbooks actually say. These two aspects are the very foundations of this book and the project from which it was born: public policies for textbooks and the narratives that constitute the texts of history textbooks.

Go to the website for more information on the book.