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Eric · 11-02-2009, 17:49

I'm particularly interested in how the history of the two world wars is taught .... I realize that it is hard not to glorify the conflicts when you were on the winning side in both bouts ... but how does this idea of "we were the good guys and we kicked ass" exist along side the idea, or the ideal, that war is wrong, bad, or maybe even evil.

Is history "events"; is it the story of "great men" (with the odd woman thrown in ... good Queen Bess comes to mind) or is it everyone's tale? How do we get the idea across that history is something we do, not something that happened to others in the past?

Thinking about history is a Shandean horse of mine .... I realized that in some way it is very important when I was trying to figure out why Stalin went to so much trouble and erased so many people, in order to change it.

11-02-2009, 17:49	#26
Eric God Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada Posts: 9,290 Liked: 2347 times Rep Power: 58525	Re: 1066 and all that .... I'm particularly interested in how the history of the two world wars is taught .... I realize that it is hard not to glorify the conflicts when you were on the winning side in both bouts ... but how does this idea of "we were the good guys and we kicked ass" exist along side the idea, or the ideal, that war is wrong, bad, or maybe even evil. Is history "events"; is it the story of "great men" (with the odd woman thrown in ... good Queen Bess comes to mind) or is it everyone's tale? How do we get the idea across that history is something we do, not something that happened to others in the past? Thinking about history is a Shandean horse of mine .... I realized that in some way it is very important when I was trying to figure out why Stalin went to so much trouble and erased so many people, in order to change it.