The following comes from an April 28 Globe Newswire news release:

Lands of Hope and Promise, the newest high school history textbook in a series of highly praised, beautiful history textbooks published by Catholic Textbook Project, earns the highest praise from Monsignor Sal Pilato, superintendent of high schools, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and others.

“As a former secondary history teacher and principal,” says Monsignor Sal Pilato in recommending Lands of Hope and Promise to high school educators in the archdiocese, “I can say that these are excellent textbooks that really fill an important gap in our efforts to teach the full story of history, the honest story which includes the Church’s role in the formation and growth of our country and civilization.”

Michael Van Hecke, M.Ed., school headmaster, founder and president of the Catholic Textbook Project, is grateful but not surprised by the praise.

“We are very attentive to producing well-researched, accurate history textbooks that present history as a real-life human story,” says Van Hecke, “because ultimately that’s what history is; the story of significantly impactful human achievements and decisions, good and bad, over the centuries.”

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Van Hecke says that inner city schools that adopted these textbooks saw student reading scores dramatically improve; results echoed by teachers and principals elsewhere.

“Other middle and high-school history textbooks lack the qualities that Catholic Textbook Project’s offer… beautifully and clearly presented. Without proselytizing, and without pressing any worldview other than the importance of understanding the past,” says Jeffrey Burton Russell, Ph.D., Professor of History, Emeritus, UC, Santa Barbara.

Principals and teachers whose high schools use the newest textbook agree.

“It is refreshing to find a U.S. History text where the foundation of our government as a Republic is emphasized, where our roots in western civilization are embraced, and where the freedom to practice one’s religious beliefs is made abundantly clear,” says Anthony Biese, principal of St. Joseph Academy in San Marcos, CA.