WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN FROM HISTORY? - WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE PAST?

Doctored History

Sometimes history is not just biased but doctored.  The former Soviet Union, for instance,  "expunged the name Trotsky from the record, so that the fact of the commissar's existence disappeared," says the book Truth in History. Who was Trotsky?  He was a leader in the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and was second only to Lenin. After Lenin's death, Trotsky clashed with Stalin, was expelled from the Communist Part, and was later murdered.  His name was even purged from Soviet encyclopedias.  Similar distortions of history, even to the point of burning non-conforming books, have been a regular practice of many dictatorial regimes. 

Doctoring history, however, is an ancient practice, dating back at least as far as Egypt and Assyria. Proud and vain, pharaoh, kings, and emperors ensured that they historical legacy was flattering. So achievements were routinely exaggerated, while anything embarrassing or dishonorable, such as defeat in warfare, was played down, erased, or sometimes not even reported.  In sharp contrast, the history of Israel recorded in the Bible includes both the failures and the glories of kings and subject alike. 

How do historians check the accuracy of older writings?  They compare these with such things as old tax records, law codes, advertisements for slave auctions, business and private letters and records, inscriptions on pottery shards, ships' logs, and items found in tombs and graves.  This miscellany often sheds additional or different light on official writings. Where gaps or uncertainties remain, good historians will usually say so, even though they might offer their own theories to fill the gaps. In any case, wise readers consult more than one reference if they seek a balanced interpretation.  

In spite of all the challenges that the historian faces, his work can have much to offer. One history book explains: "Hard as it is to write, . . . world history is important, even essential, to us."  Besides providing a window on the past, history can broaden our understanding of the present human condition.   We soon discover, for instance, that the ancients displayed the same human traits that people display today.  These recurring traits have had a major impact on history, perhaps leading to the saying that history repeats itself. But is that a sound generalization? 

Next time: WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN FROM HISTORY? - CAN WE LEARN FROM THE PAST?/Does History Repeat Itself?

From the Awake! magazine