After reading the Prejudice thread, and hearing for several years that all the history books have been re-written, going back as far as 1900, is/are there a book(s) that really tell(s) the truth. I've recently heard all kinds of filth about George Washington and just before that I heard all kinds of good stuff about him. Where do you find the truth?-or is that a "good one"?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 26, 2000

Answers

Cindy, truth is truth. I've got an old British history text, their version of the War of 1812 and the versions in our books differ, rather remarkably. Yet both are "right". Anything more than a simple time line (which many could still quibble with) is going to take on at the very least a natural slant to the writers' environments. Nowdays we talk about the deliberate politically "correct" slant being put into history books, but it is hardly new.

What to do? Keep reading. Just because you agree with something, or you like something, doesn't mean it is "true". And what you read that upsets you, or offends you, or differs from what you've been taught, is not necessarily "false". Read, and weigh what you read.

When I was a kid, someone sent the family a gift subscription (anonymously) to a reactionary right magazine. I'd fish it back out of the garbage, go to the bookstore and buy Mother Jones and then sit down with those 2 and Time. I had a riot trying to match news stories in the 3 magazines. Even something like a volcano going off somewhere would result in 3 entirely different stories in the magazines. For things like political speeches, strikes, and related matters, there were times when I couldn't honestly swear that articles in the 3 magazines were all about the same event. I'd be pretty sure, but not positive. History books are no different.

Consider what would happen if you asked a group of people to name the one most important event in history of the last 500 years or so. (I'm trying to exclude the easy answers like "The birth of Jesus") Would everyone say the same thing? No. Some would go for our Revolutionary War, or the signing of the Magna Carta, or one of the early ocean voyages leading to the discovery and settlement of the Americas by Europeans. Some would pick the end of slavery. Some would pick a technological event. Or a medical event. You might happen to question someone who has a special interest in ancient Rome, that person would likely have a different answer.

Much the same happens when people try to assemble history texts. What to include, what to exclude, how much space, how little space. There are the prejudices of the people involved (and prejudice includes far more than skin color), perhaps the author isn't much for modern medicine, therefore the advances (good and bad) of medicine might well get short shrift without the author really even realizing it.

The truth IS out there, but it is in bits and pieces, scattered and colored by the experiences of those who witness it. Remember that war is one thing to the multi-star general safe at headquarters and something very different to the grunt in the trenches-and there that's a prejudice. I've been taught like the rest of us, history is a series of wars, as though any year or place that did not have a war did not exist.

So read, history texts are the obvious choice, but there are other sources. Piece together old diaries, translations of odd bits of text that have been found, read and think. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), September 26, 2000.

Hi Cindy,

Human history is very subjective. The historian will try to include anything he or she thinks will make for a believable story. They are in the business to sell books and make money. And if they can spin a good yarn in the process, so much the better.

An historian won't try to sell a book about George Washington to a school board that contains stories about his indescretions. But you will find the same book in Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. If people want to read that stuff, they will. A lot depends on where the culture is in regards to people's personal lives.

History is more than just the facts. It's what will sell at the moment. It is what people will listen to or believe. Right now we're in the voyeur mode. As a culture we want to peek behind the curtain to find out what's really going on. And we don't care who it is. The more famous the person, the greater the target.

Sure, there's a lot of dirt on Washington. And FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy (LOTS on Kennedy), Martin Luther King, etc.etc. It's there, but you don't have to read it. The choice is yours.

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), September 26, 2000.

I beg to differ...when I was in high school (this was only 8 years ago) my history book was a JOKE!!! I happen to know the Gettysberg address by heart (mom was a stickler for memorization) and my history book supposedly printed the entire thing....NOT!!! It was butchered. Anything referring to God was simply eliminated. Now I was probably the only student (or at most, one of a small handfull) that would have known there was anything wrong with it. The TEACHER didn't know anything was wrong! And this was Advanced American History, supposedly the best history class available.

I've discovered that most history textbooks dating from post-1970s have conveniently "rearranged" things like that. If you want real stuff, you'll probably have to go to 1950s books.

-- Ali (philipandaleta@juno.com), September 27, 2000.

What I found incredibly amazing is the many, many, many (can I say it enough times???) contributions that women have made to history that have never made it to the history books! Incredible! Yeah, we all know Mdme. Curie, and Betsy Ross, and maybe even Elizabeth Cady Stanton if we think we are particularly enlightened. But sheesh, there's a LOT we (or at least I) didn't read about in school. Discovering that fact was a real eye opener for me. And of course, there were all those women who helped settle the frontier who remained anonymous. Wish we could all have a chance to appreciate some of these contributions, but it's only going to be through reading feminist history books, and I'd lay odds that a lot of people wouldn't even be browsing in that section of the bookstore...

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), September 27, 2000.

It was once said "To the victor belongs the spoils of victory and the right to write the history". Watch the evening news and you will see so many battles, military, political and sociological. Think of the lost things from your childhood, the "good old days" if you will. Chances are they have fallen victim to a new "battle" won , and therefore will be depicted in history differently then before. This change isn't bad, only a good excuse for a new section of your private library.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 29, 2000.

Hey Cindy! Anytime you want the truth you can just let me know! Old Uncle Brad is as close as you will come! I'll leave the lyin' to the politicians, 'tho' I do believe some are worse than others. As in Love Canal, the Internet, and I did NOT! "Monica, inhale, lie, spontaneously kiss my wife, or do not look like a horse wearing a tie" Enjoy life - just be careful! GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), October 02, 2000.