Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to The Britannica from ***1900***?? That's A.D., right?

You surprise me.
SDAI-Tech1 — (archived)

Anyone engaging in serious debate can find a wealth of material closer to the time an event occurred.

If I want to know about Kennedy's assassination. I don't buy a book on it written in 2006. I find the newspaper accounts and special editions from the day it happened. I get the Time and othe news magazines of the day and read the material when it is still fresh and not watered down by half a dozen rewrites and selected quotes.

Just because the old days were not politically correct is no reason to discard them. I have Four volumes of The Youth's History of the United States by Ellis dated from 1887 and it has tales of Indians (savages) and thousands of facts about things such as the recent Civil War and that time period that simply has not been deemed important enough to reprint. Just because it takes a settler stance on the Indian conflicts is no reason to discount the facts.

Sure new archaeological discoveries, analysis and excavations may change and update old things. Science certainly is one field where old books are often outdated. History though, I find is much better when viewed from the eyes and words of those who lived in the time studied.

History is never balanced. The nationality, age and education of the writer will have huge impact on the discussion of history.

Today's history books are often worthless fluff taken and swiped from older books now out of copyright, recompiled & condensed, rewritten with a PC overtone and destined for the discount shelf at Barnes & Noble.

;-)

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