Provocative excerpts from primary and secondary sources (some with audio glosses). Read the rationale behind these sound bites for more information.
321-330 of 734 Sound Bites. [show all]
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321) Although the practical value of a knowledge of history is commonly exaggerated, since men do not appear to learn readily from the mistakes of their ancestors, and historians themselves are not always conspicuous for their wisdom , I suppose that few would deny the practical necessity of this knowledge. (Herbert J. Muller 30) [SoundBite #321]
322) Ideologically speaking, the histories of the fifties were implacable, seamless. Inside their covers, America was perfect: the greatest nation in the world, and the embodiment of democracy, freedom, and technological progress. (Frances FitzGerald, America 10) [SoundBite #57]
323) Not all facts about the past are historical facts, or are treated as such by the historian. What is the criterion which distinguishes the facts of history from other facts about the past? (Edward Hallett Carr 4) [SoundBite #323]
324) It is possible to make six points that apply equally to the dramatic film and the documentary. 1. The mainstream film tells history as a story, a tale with a beginning, middle, and an end. . . . 2. Film insists on history as the story of individuals . . . both dramatic features and documentaries put individuals in the forefront of the historical process. Which means that the solution of their personal problems tends to substitute itself for the solution of the historical problems. . . . 3. Film offers us history as the story of a closed, completed, and simple past. It provides no alternative possibilities. . . . 4. Film emotionalizes, personalizes, and dramatizes history. . . . 5. Film . . . gives us the "look" of the past. . . . 6. Films shows history as process. (Robert Rosenstone 55-60) [SoundBite #324]
325) If my goal was to instill patriotism into children without lying, I would choose to teach history in a type of pyramid manner, similar to the way math, for example, is taught. We learn math by starting with certain building blocks -- numbers, addition subtraction, etc. We always learn operations in a logical order. eg, we can't subtract unless we learn to add, we can't add unless we understand what #'s represent. Constantly our math analysis becomes more detailed and we continue to use our basic functions in more complex manners. Most importantly, we are told from the get-go that our math WILL become more complicated. We know that we will get to more complicated stuff later. Well, I think that history could be taught in a similar manner. Start with basic facts that children can understand, eg, Native Americans settled North America, many explorers searched for this new land, Columbus did "find" America, etc. Keep it simple and truthful, always telling children that the history is more complicated, and they will learn more detailed, and sometimes less pleasant facts later. (Wendy Kuhn, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #310]
326) Where and how did we lose our moorings? With such a great start, why did we allow liberalism, moral relativism, and secular humanism to poison our nation’s soul? And what can we do to recapture the original American spirit of freedom and individualism? (Rush Limbaugh 76) [SoundBite #326]
327) Left to itself, a child will not grow into a thriving creature; Tarzan is pure fantasy. To thrive, a child needs to learn the traditions of the particular human society and culture it is born into. (E. D. Hirsch, Jr. 31) [SoundBite #327]
328) The use of history as therapy means the corruption of history as history. (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 93) [SoundBite #328]
329) My chief hope is to provoke more historical writing which is consciously activist on behalf of the kind of world which history has not yet disclosed, but perhaps hinted at. (Howard Zinn 3) [SoundBite #329]
330) I'm curious as to whether current technology will begin to eliminate or further propagate a historian's bias. For instance, I'm specifically thinking of Wikipedia and how a group of editors is able to write about past events that have occurred since Wikipedia's founding. I feel like they bring together a collective thought that eliminates bias and puts all the facts out on the table, while also showing through quotes how certain people react to those events in different ways. (Travis Statham, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #1836]
