Lies My Teacher Told Me

From the text:

Often, the first “hero” in presented in American history is none other than Christopher Columbus. “Care should be taken to vindicate great names from pernicious erudition,” wrote Washington Irving, defending heroification. Irving’s three-volume biography of Columbus, published in 1828, still influences what high school teachers and textbooks say about the Admiral of the Ocean Sea (the title bestowed to him by
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain upon his return from his first voyage in 1492). Therefore, it will come as no surprise that heroification has stolen from us the important facets of his life, leaving only melodramatic minutiae.