Citizenship book rewrites U.S. history.

Byline: Kevin Modesti, Staff Writer

The publishers of "Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship" claim to have sold 1 million copies in the past 83 years to people preparing to take the United States citizenship test.

But what does the book teach those eager new Americans? Its 101st edition informs them that Alexander Hamilton served as president and that the Superior Court is California's highest court, and suggests citizens "must" vote.

Such mistakes could loom larger since a new version of the citizenship-seekers' oral exam became a requirement Oct. 1, testing applicants' grasp of broad concepts of the nation's history and civics instead of memorized facts.

Recently, a reporter mentioned these and other flubs to "Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship" publisher Bryan Jones, who sounded as if he was hearing about them for the first time.

"I want to write these down," Jones said on the phone before promising to "look into" the questionable passages.

"Absolutely we would want to change any factual errors," Jones said.

If a few truths seem to have slipped through the biggest cracks this side of the Liberty Bell, it might be because the slim paperback advertised as the best-selling study guide for citizenship test-takers is published by a small family owned firm that scrambles to keep the text up to date.

Jones said he doesn't want to sound as if he's making excuses, but the book's part-time staff of three - which includes Jones and his wife - faced particular challenges in making the latest edition applicable to both the old and new versions of the citizenship test.

Jones, 32, a UCLA graduate who lives in Santa Monica, is the owner and latest steward of a publishing company called D.L. Hennessey, based in Los Altos, east of San Jose. He said that in addition to "Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship," the company puts out sports guides for kids and business training guides.

Jones is the great-grandson of D.L. Hennessey himself, a citizenship teacher and adult educator who created the book in 1925. One hundred editions and 84 years later, the book's cover claims it has "helped over one million immigrants to learn the U.S. history and civics lessons necessary to pass the U.S. citizenship test."

But some of the lessons taught to readers of the 101st edition (published in 2008, with a cover price of $13.95) are less historical than hysterical. A couple of mistakes were called to the Daily News' attention by a teaching credential candidate who purchased the book to study for a test on the U.S. Constitution, and other oddities were spotted by a reporter.

A section about the creation of the Constitution says: "Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who ended up serving as Presidents of the United States, as well as John Jay, wrote several of the eighty-five essays included in the Federalist Papers ..."

Madison was indeed the fourth president. Hamilton never was president, though he was the first secretary of the treasury, and he enjoys the distinctions of having his portrait on the $10 bill, of having been perhaps the first American politician sullied by an adulterous affair, and of being the first person shot (and only person slain) by a vice president (Aaron Burr).

A chapter meant to prepare a citizenship test-taker for questions about his or her home state explains California's governorship and Legislature and then says: "There are also state courts that serve as the judicial branch of state governments. The California Superior Court is the highest court that decides California cases."

No mention of the California Supreme Court.

A passage on the rights and responsibilities of citizens says of voting: "You must express your opinions by electing leaders that will make positive decisions."

Especially for immigrants from countries where voting is mandatory, "you must" might sound as if voting is required here.

In a section of descriptions of notable presidents, Abraham Lincoln is said to be remembered for, among other things, "issuing the Gettysburg Address and delivering the Emancipation Proclamation."

Maybe it's nitpicking, but normally it's a speech that's delivered and an order that's issued.

Would any of this trip up a prospective citizen? It appears not, because the book errs on topics that aren't covered by the citizenship test.

In the oral exam, citizenship applicants are given 10 questions and must answer at least six correctly. The 10 are drawn from 100 questions and answers that are made available for study ahead of time.

"Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship" includes those study questions and answers. So does the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site (uscis.gov).

USCIS spokeswoman Mariana Gitomer, told about the book's batch of errors, replied, "It's crazy."

But she said she found no USCIS officials who had heard of the book and said the agency would take no action.

Gitomer said most citizenship classes use the USCISonline study guide.

Yet UCLA Extension, which offers an exam on the U.S. Constitution for teacher-credential candidates, recommends "Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship" among other study resources, UCLA Extension spokesman Brian Bell said. The book is sold at the UCLA bookstore.

"We stand behind the test," Bell said. "We don't necessarily stand behind the book."

Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar bases its noncredit class for would-be U.S. citizens on another book, "Voices of Freedom," said Dennis Solares, coordinator of the college's noncredit program.

But in case students might turn to "Twenty-Five Lessons in Citizenship," Solares said he's glad the errors have been discovered.

"We definitely want our students well-informed," said Solares, who believes a test-taker can rely on the 100 sample questions and answers.

The D.L. Hennessey book has been challenged for accuracy before, as in an Amazon.com customer review of the 97th edition that noted an error on where the Mayflower landed (actually Provincetown, Mass., not "Plymouth Rock"). That error does not appear in the 101st edition.

Jones said past complaints from readers usually involved such arcane matters as whether the Mississippi or the Missouri is the United States' longest river, and differences of opinion about what Jones calls the "very pro-U.S." tone of the book.

As for the indisputable flubs, Jones said that by the next edition, "I hope to have everything ironed out."

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