Six popular high school American history textbooks are examined to address accusations of overcompensation by textbook publishers as a result of the raised ethnic consciousness of the 1970s. The textbooks are: "Our American Heritage" (Silver Burdett); "The Pageant of American History" (Allyn and Bacon); "A History of Our American Republic" (Laidlaw Brothers); "People and Our Country" (Holt, Rinehart and Winston); "These United States" (Houghton Mifflin); and "Rise of the American Nation" (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich). Investigated are how the new textbooks deal with American diversity and whether or not so much attention is given to ethnic groups that the main lines of American history are distorted. Arranged into six chapters, textbooks are evaluated for: (1) similarities in content and format; (2) proportion of space devoted to ethnic groups; (3) treatment of pre-colonial and colonial ethnic groups; (4) treatment of ethnic groups during the American territorial expansion period; (5) treatment of 20th century ethnic minorities; and (6) a discussion of new civic morality which focuses on respect and justice for disadvantaged minorities and creation of a successful multi-ethnic society. The book concludes that familiar outlines of American history development are somewhat reduced and the overall tone of the new texts replaces the old myths of racial inferiority with new myths proclaiming the superior moral qualities of minorities. Two data tables are provided illustrating the numbers and percentages of pages and pictures devoted to ethnic groups. (LH)