This is the new, improved casting of America’s story, as told in the National Standards for United States History. Released last week to rocky reviews, the teachers’ guide for fifth through 12th graders was commissioned by Congress as part of its plan to bolster students’ competency in the core subjects. Added to conventional history are the views and stories of blacks, Native Americans, women and ordinary people. Rather than mentioned in passing, their stories are folded into the main American landscape. Its authors hope the final package will resuscitate the humdrum stew of heroes and key events dished up by traditional history texts. “History comes alive with these stories. America’s beginnings were not just a simple tale of civilization meeting savages,” says Gary Nash, codirector of the standards project. “It was really far more messy and far more interesting.”

It may be new history, but it stirs up old, untidy culture wars. Critics contend the curriculum is laden with political correctness. The university professors and schoolteachers who compiled the work argue that it’s just heavy with correct history. Should children learn about the often ugly struggles between groups to forge America? Or should they be taught about Great Individuals and triumphant events? Which approach will generate hardened cynics, which one better-educated patriots?

The woman who appointed this panel of history experts during the Bush administration is clear on where she stands. “This book is just the sad and the bad,” complains Lynne Cheney, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cheney believes the document paints a “gloomy” picture of America, one that’s too critical of all things white and Western, and too un-critical of all things brown, black and other. The text dumps on J. D. Rockefeller as a despot, she contends. But it praises the riches of Mansa Musa, the emperor of ancient Mali, who never passed out a dime to any kid on the street. It mentions Harriet Tubman, but not Daniel Webster; Eli Whitney, but not the Wright brothers. “It doesn’t reflect our progress, our achievements. It does reflect our failings,” says Cheney.

All this “bean counting” and moaning over men not mentioned misses the point, say the standards-project directors, based in the UCLA Center for History. The idea was to get away from that old paradigm of history as the tale of individuals. This document is constructed around issues, such as the Industrial Revolution, instead of people, such as Robert Fulton. “Is the story of America one of unmitigated glory? No,” argues UCLA’s Charlotte Crab-tree, the project’s other codirector. “Children will be better able to understand current events. They won’t think the system is falling apart just because there is a debate.”

Since the first public schools were established, 150 years ago, education has been an intensely local affair. The very hint that the federal government could tell states what to teach was considered un-American, until recently. But a Carnegie Foundation report in 1988 set off new alarms. American students were lagging behind their global colleagues, according to “A Nation at Risk.” The public rallied behind boosting achievement by setting national standards. The NEH under the Reagan and Bush administrations set to work to draft “world-class standards” in key subjects for kindergartners through 12th graders. Congress finally passed the Goals 2000 Act mandating, among other things, the reforms in March 1994, long after Clinton took office. Guidebooks in geography, art and now U.S. history are awaiting certification by a panel to be appointed by the president.

But even if certified, the document isn’t required reading in the schools. No national exam as yet will test students on its content. Its impact lies with the textbook publishers. “It could be extremely influential in what children learn if publishers use it as a model,” says Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council, and a member of the history task force. Until then, what’s to force teachers to use it in the classroom? That’s a concern held by Mabel Lake Murray, member of the National Alliance of Black School Educators. “Black children have been brainwashed since they started school in America to celebrate white heroes, concepts and values,” says Murray, who served on a national forum for the history standards. “What needs to happen now is a reverse brainwashing.”

THE NEW U.S. HISTORY guidebook leaves things out, but it’s more significant for what it adds. Rather than confining women’s issues to the standard suffrage-movement tale, it recommends adding the story of Myra Colby Bradwell (above, right). A public activist, her bid to be admitted as a lawyer to the Illinois bar made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The slave trade (above) is a staple of history courses, but the curriculum guide recommends juxtaposing the peculiar institution with the writing of the Declaration of Independence so students can ponder the conflict. And the Civil War is carried beyond the battlefield. Included are the draft riots of 1863, when a mob of laborers rioted in New York City streets (left), protesting unfair conscription policies. Poor men were called; the affluent could pay $300 to avoid the draft. White laborers attacked newly freed slaves; troops fresh from Gettysburg restored the peace.