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

681-690 of 734 Sound Bites. [show all]

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681) The effectiveness of this type of historical narrative on film [Lawrence of Arabia] is achieved only at the cost of significant departures from the historical realities of the events and persons depicted in the movie. (Mike Chopra-Gant 78) [SoundBite #1260]

682) It is impossible for historians to be perfectly unbiased, although it is their responsibility. (Jaeyong Shim, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2955]

683) The days of heroic history are past. (Donald F. Stevens 2) [SoundBite #222]

684) Granted, the study of history is a subjective pursuit. For example, hundreds of people were at the grassy knoll in Dallas when President Kennedy’s motorcade passed by, and I’d wager that each of them recalls a slightly different version of what transpired. The study of his assassination continues to this day and will continue long after we’re gone. Thousands of FBI documents, Oliver Stone’s JFK, the 1525 books on Amazon.com, 4+ million Google hits and countless other articles, textbooks, documentaries, television shows and any communication tool available to mankind prove this. It’s history and up for interpretational “grabs” so to speak and that’s ok. We live in the land of the free. What bugs me is when historical grabs become non-stop “gab” sessions and nothing more than untruthful fodder for endless self-serving platforms. (Lynn Farley, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2957]

685) The horrors of history are as important as historical heroism when inciting inspiration. Movies like Platoon and Schindler’s List inspire outbursts of “never again.” The true inspirational benefit of history can only be achieved when the good, the bad, and the ugly are conveyed. (Katherine Prosswimmer, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2958]

686) History –- that’s what those bitter old men write. (Jackie Onassis) [SoundBite #2959]

687) We have positive as well as negative assessments of the cultural role of tradition. From an affirmative point of view, a surge of tradition can supply the basis for social cohesion, especially in a nation so heterogeneous as the United States. Where religious, ethnic, and regional diversity are such centripetal forces, a sense of nationality and of its symptomatic “official culture” can be useful. . . . From a critical perspective, on the other hand, traditions are commonly relied upon by those who possess the power to achieve an illusion of social consensus. Such people invoke the legitimacy of an artificially constructed past in order to buttress presentist assumptions and the authority of a regime. (Michael Kammen, Mystic 4-5) [SoundBite #118]

688) When people go to the movies they look to turn their brains off -- their skepticism is down -- and arrive willing to suspend disbelief. The audience is immersed in the movie-going experience, and their attention is undivided (for the most part). Psychoanalysts (Freudians) would argue, and this seems completely logical, that we view a movie in search of a character or characters that we can identify with, or, more powerfully, that we subconsciously see as a reflection of our self (they call it “mirroring" -- and often it’s more wishful thinking than reality). All this makes it worrisome that movies seem very much like high school history textbooks. Their prepackaged narrative fosters passive learning and presupposes that a “truth” is possible. I don’t mean to argue that history is futile (I teach it and think we all need to know it), but it seems that there is not enough awareness of what history is -- and that it’s literally present in all we do and think (I just ripped off James Baldwin). (Patrick O'Brien, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2961]

689) I guess in a perfect world, film would encourage us to do further research. Sadly so many people go to a movie, shut off their brains, and start to drool. When I use a film in the classroom, I am constantly fighting this attitude. (Edward Tabor, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2962]

690) According to Peter Novick...looking at every white college and university in America, exactly one black was ever employed to teach history before 1945! Most historians were males from privileged white families. They wrote with blinders on. (James W. Loewen 266) [SoundBite #1290]