A lot of attention has been focused on Texas in recent weeks, because state officials decided to rewrite social studies curriculum and force kids to learn a distorted view of the country's past.

Folks in other states are worried that the changes will wind up appearing in schools outside Texas. The state, with almost 5 million students in kindergarten through high school, dictates what is in the textbooks it purchases from publishers, and other states often buy the same materials....

I asked the award-winning historian James McPherson what he thought about the controversy.

Here's what he said:

"One can only regret the conservative pressure groups and members of the Texas education board that have forced certain changes in high school history textbooks used in the state."...