Why do american history textbooks gloss over the recent past?

what according to you is the last date for history vs. current events? for example do events in the 2000s count as history? what about the 1990s and 80s.Why do american history textbooks gloss over the recent past?
History needs some time for gaining perspective on the past events. I would say 25 years is a minimum to separate history from ';current events';.Why do american history textbooks gloss over the recent past?
Depends if this a High School or College Level Book. High School will be a little Dated as to the information. College may be more updated, but, even here they will use a Textbook 3-5 years depending on circumstances. Many College Books should have current 80's and 90's events and some early 2000 stuff though it may be limited. I guess they have to wait for information to be substantiated before allowing it to become actual History. Example; The War on Iraq. This information will be limited at this time. Ten years from now as Trials and Inside Information become more Publicly available (things like 911 and Hussein, Bin Laden etc.) then the History can become more Broad and Informative and Hopefully Factual. Hope this helps.
Textbooks for the public schools are averse to controversy. Anything that takes a position on history that took place in living memory will invariably irk somebody, and will cost the publisher sales. Imagine a survey of the counterculture in the 1960's. A lot of people have strong fellow-feeling for the hippies, and a lot of people still consider them a filthy anomoly. So rather than risk getting one side or the other angry, publishers don't bother to give an in-depth history of the hippies at all.





I think current events is anything that is still in play. 9/11 is still in play because its impact continues to steer policy decisions and public opinion. Last year's Super Bowl does not have the same lingering impact, except on fans, so it is not current events. But that has less than nothing to do with textbooks--I went to high school in the late 80's and early 90's, and my history classes never got closer to the present than World War I. And that's a disgrace.
The textbook my school uses was made in 2004. There is no mention of anything in the 70s, 80s, or 90s...They just go from something in the 60s to September 11th. Speaking of September 11, all they did was 3 paragraphs on that event, and then 2 on the war in Iraq and the beginning of the war. Then that's the end of the book. But it's a 2004 book! A lot has happened!!!!!!!
History is anything that happened yesterday.