The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Historical Event: An Analysis of U.S. History Textbooks

Abstract

This study focuses on how four U.S. History textbooks portrayed the COVID-19 pandemic as a recent historical event. The findings from the study suggest that the textbooks provided a disjointed narrative that did not fully explain aspects of the pandemic, such as why COVID-19 caused so much societal upheaval. The textbooks also often dodged significant questions about the origin of the virus and societal lessons learned from the U.S. pandemic response. As such, the article concludes by arguing that these “first drafts of history” will do little to help future generations think critically about the COVID-19 pandemic.