What’s so great about history?
My degree is in History with a minor of Psychology. I have a passion for history. I read a lot of history books. I sit in front of a lot of history books. Yet, I can’t say that I love everything associated with history.
First of all, I talk of history like it’s a single subject. Like you could take a single course and know it all. The best scholars will focus on one tiny bit of years of history and learn everything there is to know about it. They devour texts, documents, microfiche, you name it. They may know everything there is to know about, say, the Spanish-American War-but they can’t tell you the exact date of the Rough Riders taking San Juan Hill. These scholars are more concerned with learning than they are with spouting trivial facts and being winners at Jeopardy.
I’m not interested in all of history. Who has the time? Also, I’m not interested in trivial aspects like how butter was made in the agrarian age. I’m sure it was difficult.
History is about decisions. To me, the best history books are about people who made remarkable decisions or remarkable sacrifices to better humanity. People often scoff at history being all about wars. But, why do we focus so much on war? Because war is full of people making tough decisions-abandoning the status quo.
Maybe I prefer a good biography than an essay on the cotton-gin.
An incomplete thought-maybe. Just what is on my mind.
