[lit-ideas] Re: History is written by historians

  • From: "Veronica Caley" <molleo1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:03:34 -0400

Eric is right. No human endeavor is without bias. But if you think history doesn't matter or we ought not read it, see below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-schoolbook-massacre-rewrites-american-history-1929320.html

Veronica Caley

Milford, MI

----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 4:58 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] History is written by historians




On 6/10/2010 3:15 PM, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx quoted:
"History is written by the winners."


Can't agree that this makes as much of a difference as absolute cultural relativists and absolute cultural prescriptivists would maintain.

Sometimes there are "secret" histories (Procopius for example).
Sometimes there are "populist" histories (Zinn for example).
Sometimes there are "revisionist" histories (Green on the Hellenistic period for example).

The claim that historians enter their work with biases and assumptions is no big deal. Everyone does. In science, for example, people working with microscopes have to deal with "color bias" in the microscope. We all make judgments by presuming things and these assumptions carry us forward.

That the winners often write histories is perhaps a good thing. Imagine how misleading accounts written only by the losers would be! Far worse than the current state of affairs.

EY


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