How to Teach College

A posthumous book by the bestselling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, sharing the strategies and secrets of an award-winning, fifty-year career as a college professor



In addition to being a bestselling author, James W. Loewen was a prizewinning educator, with a career spanning over half a century at institutions including Tougaloo College, Harvard University, the University of Vermont, and the Catholic University of America. Loewen was beloved by his students and won many “best teacher” awards. He had an unusual passion for teaching and took the job very seriously.


How to Teach College is a brilliant distillation of his educational wisdom that will be of interest to many generations of teachers to come, as well as to the millions of fans of Loewen’s other books. It encompasses advice both epic (how to convey a love of one’s topic and motivate students to become lifelong higher learners) and technical (how to plan and manage the classroom, syllabi, lectures, tests, grading, and more)—all drawing on firsthand stories and anecdotes from Loewen’s own courses on sociology and race relations.


With a special emphasis on reaching students from diverse backgrounds and how to teach potentially difficult subjects—particularly relevant in these times—the book comes to us in Loewen’s vibrant, original, and inimitable voice. It will be a lasting part of his legacy and a great gift to a new generation of college (and some high school) teachers.


The manuscript was edited by Loewen’s son, Nicholas Loewen, a longtime high school teacher, and sociology professor Michael Dawon, with whom Loewen shared an early draft.