Title: Who Writes History? | KQED
Headings: Who Writes History?
Who Writes History?
Content: So said Winston Churchill. Napoleon called it a fable agreed upon. So what happens when, in the course of time, the losers turn the tables and become the victors? Do we get another fable agreed upon? I’m told we are now in the post-truth era, where feelings and ideology have superseded facts. And yet, I don’t think any era has been able to claim their truth as a fact. Even the veracity of a date sometimes depends on your chosen calendar. That might have been what inspired the British authors of “1066 and All That,” whose conclusion was that the Norman invasion of England was the only date worth remembering because that was when their country came into being. It is significant that the book ends with the close of World War I when, with America having replaced England as the “top nation,” all history ended! Depending on what one is trying to prove, any event can be seen as the one from which the future sprang, but it’s not like establishing a family tree.