Provocative excerpts from primary and secondary sources (some with audio glosses). Read the rationale behind these sound bites for more information.

131-140 of 734 Sound Bites. [show all]

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131) Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. . . . In all epochs of the world's history we shall find the Great Man to have been the indispensable saviour of his epoch. (Thomas Carlyle, qtd. in Commager 24) [SoundBite #131]

132) I guess “This is true” has a really big appeal. (Eric Foner, qtd. in Carnes 17) [SoundBite #132]

133) What brings these different orders of representation -- the epic, the war film, the biographical film, and the topical film -- into the same discursive framework is the concept of reenactment, the act of imaginative recreation that allows the spectator to imagine they are "witnessing again" the events of the past. (Robert Burgoyne 7) [SoundBite #1368]

134) I have realized as I grow older that history, in the end, has more imagination than oneself. (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, qtd. in Zamora vi) [SoundBite #134]

135) One of the biggest lessons I learned was to always question what is presented to me. In other words, just because a film is based on history doesn’t necessarily mean it is 100% accurate. History is comprised of different interpretations. Different spins and outlooks can be taken on just about any historical event, and a Hollywood film is simply one director’s interpretation and perspective on that particular happening. Just because Oliver Stone argues that there was more to JFK’s death than conventional wisdom allows does not necessarily mean we live under a horrendous government. What this does mean, however, is that each of us should feel empowered to question the status quo and make sure that we are critical citizens. That is just one example of a big lesson I took from this course, but I would say that’s a pretty important one. Who would have thought that simply by viewing a film I would gain such a profound aspect of what it is to be American. We live in a democratic society, and as such we should not feel guilty about standing up for what we believe in and questioning things that just don’t sit right with us. (Taylor Kite, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2574]

136) Since the scholarly written history possesses the same textuality as other ways of representing history and since all ways of representing history have some basis in "facts" about the past, there is no reason for privileging one mode of historical representation over others. They are all valid (but different) ways of representing the past. (Mike Chopra-Gant 70) [SoundBite #1259]

137) Today, even the very subject of history is in danger of losing its distinct identity, of becoming absorbed in the smorgasbord of this and that known as "social studies." (William J. Bennett, Children 162) [SoundBite #137]

138) Official culture relies on “dogmatic formalism” and the restatement of reality in ideal rather than complex or ambiguous terms. (John Bodnar 13-14) [SoundBite #138]

139) The surprise that adults feel in seeing the changes in the history texts must come from the lingering hope that there is, somewhere out there, an objective truth. (Frances FitzGerald, America 16) [SoundBite #139]

140) For when textbook authors leave out the warts, the problems, the unfortunate character traits, and the mistaken ideas, they reduce heroes from dramatic men and women to melodramatic stick figures. Their inner struggles disappear and they become goody-goody, not merely good. (James W. Loewen 36) [SoundBite #1271]