History, re- re- revised?

November 21, 2006 7:57 AM

I just heard an NPR story about how history books have changed to reflect the books' editorial biases. For instance, the author cites aged history books changing explanation of the reason for the Mexican-American war. Have any of you MeFites done any (formal or informal) research into this phenomenon? How can I learn more?
posted by parilous to Education (15 answers total)

Best answer: There is a large controversy about the treatment of Japanese war crimes in Japanese history books. Basically - it seems that some textbooks have whitewashed egregious Japanese war crimes in response to political pressure. You can read more about it here. I also wrote my undergraduate thesis on the comparison of Japanese and German approaches to national war crimes in education. I won't self link it unless you ask me to.
posted by subtle-t at 8:03 AM on November 21, 2006

I just read History in the Making by Kyle Ward, and it was amazing. Each chapter dealt with different aspects of American History, and rather than long, dry analyses, Ward introduces the section and the concept and lets the history books of the time tell the story. You get to read sections dealing with the same event from different texts over time, and it's truly illuminating. I couldn't recommend the book more.
posted by headspace at 8:05 AM on November 21, 2006

History is an active field. I'd be worried if textbooks didn't change. Vaguely related anecdote:

I forget where I read it, but I once came across a reference to the brain in popular science being described in terms of the dominant technology of the time - in the 19th centory it's a steam engine, driving the actions of the body. By the 1930s it's a telephone switchboard, connecting nerve impulses and responses together, by the 1980s it's a computer of course, and today it's an internet-like network of neurons.

I find that a compelling example of how language and metaphors shape our knowledge of the world.
posted by Leon at 8:11 AM on November 21, 2006

Best answer: There's a whole field of scholarly work related to what you're talking about-- it's called Historiography, the history of studying history, if you will. There's a plethora of resources at the linked Wikipedia article.
posted by hwickline at 8:15 AM on November 21, 2006

When I started my history study, this was actually the first assignment for my fellow students and me on our Dutch university. Not: write a paper about any old topic. But: write a paper about how the view people have held on any old topic has changed through the years.

Historiography is the name of this field.
posted by ijsbrand at 8:20 AM on November 21, 2006

Lies My Teacher Told Me gets into some of this in a decidedly accusatory way.
posted by oflinkey at 8:23 AM on November 21, 2006

This is normal and expected; revisionism is how graduate students become professors, by bucking the prevailing view.
posted by orthogonality at 8:40 AM on November 21, 2006

(Leon, you may be thinking of this comment by ikkyu2.)
posted by occhiblu at 9:08 AM on November 21, 2006

The Changing Past: Egyptian Historiography of the Urabi Revolt, 1882-1983 by Thomas Mayer is a nice, compact little book (just 74 pages of text) that examines how views of a particular historical episode changed over the years.
posted by languagehat at 11:56 AM on November 21, 2006

Remembering the Alamo by Richard R. Flores looks carefully at shifting views of the Alamo up to the present.
posted by umbú at 12:17 PM on November 21, 2006

Best answer: I would add that intellectual history, the history of ideas (while different from historiography) is also in play here. I'm finishing a thesis on Wilderness in Augustinian Thought and if that isn't intellectual history, I don't know what is.

To explain - Let's say that any writings, but particularly historical writings are also snapshots of the intellectual thought at the time. For example, primitivism was a strong focus of most natural history books of the early 1900s, even though they focus on Classical thought towards nature. Yosemite National Park can be argued as one of the effects of this cultural idea, that the preservation of nature in its entirety is a desireable thing, so that man can retreat to nature and become closer to God.

If you're into this sort of thing, Wilderness and the American Mind will be very interesting to you.
posted by lilithim at 12:35 PM on November 21, 2006

occhiblu: No, I hadn't read that - but it extends the idea out to the 17th century. Thanks!
posted by Leon at 5:08 PM on November 21, 2006

Response by poster: Subtle-t: I would like the self-link.

And ijsbrand, if you have a copy of your paper, I'd love to read it. I'm truly fascinated by all these examples.

Thank you for the book recommendations lilithium, languagehat, oflinkey, and umbú. Headspace, the book you recommend was the subject of the interview, so I'd immediately put it on my reading list.

I marked the best answers, but you were all quite helpful.
posted by parilous at 7:35 AM on November 22, 2006

Hope you are still reading this. You can find my paper here.
posted by subtle-t at 6:57 PM on November 22, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, subtle-t. The holidays threw a kink into my MeFi activities, so I hope YOU are still reading this.
posted by parilous at 1:38 PM on November 27, 2006