Christopher Carr's 'What Is History'

History also helps prepare one to face the future, so one does not repeat the same mistakes. The quote “History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future” explains that history is not something one can program and plan out. History is information of events of what happened such as, how one’s background and places came to be, so one does not have to question life and the world. History also helps one by revealing important information that can be used to help improve the future. For example, 9/11 was a terrible event that had happened in 2001. People use that piece of information and make a better future. After the event, the security of airports and the military was improved drastically to prevent the mistakes from happening again. If the same mistake were to happened again, money and time would be wasted to recover the damages and many people will lose their lives. The quote means one cannot program and plan out history for the future, but history can be used as information to understand the world and improve the

2 . One example Stearns uses to explain my history helps us understand people and societies is; though some social scientist have attempted to formulate laws/theories about human behavior, they still depend on historical information (para.5). In The Importance of History in Our Own Lives, Stearns uses histories accuracy, drama, tails and skilled writing appeal as his examples (para. 6). Stearns later tells how history contributes to moral understanding. He does so by telling how studying the stories of individuals and situations in the past can inspire and test a student’s own moral senses (para.6). Stearns then gives examples in how history provides identity. Using historical data, family identity is established as well as the history of institutions, businesses, communities, and social units

(An analysis of how the authors Hughes, Clifton and McElroy and how they use history in their works.)

This chapter does argue about the human history before civilization. It mentions how history courses and books leave out information about the human journey. Historians leave out Paleolithic and Neolithic eras.

He explains that history “will help us to behave better...[because] you can’t understand [something] unless you see it that way.” In other words, history teaches us to understand someone or his actions in order to fully respect his character and his actions. Furthermore, by understanding his rationale, the values of his surrounding time become apparent. For example, McCullough explains that he read a line from Abigail Adams that says “‘We can’t guarantee success in this war, but we can do something better. We can deserve it.’” He uses that quotation to highlight his point because he later found “some correspondence written by George Washington and there was the same line.” He further explains that both Washington and Adams quoted a line from the play Cato, which he deemed “[a] scripture of a kind, a kind of secular creed if you will.” Because the play represents a lot of the ideology of the time “you can’t understand why honor was so important to them and why there were truly ready to put...their sacred honor on the line.” Strictly speaking, it’s not only the words that need to be learned, but rather the beliefs and the philosophies that need to be learned in order to fully understand someone and his actions. Likewise, in order to understand contemporary times, reading modern books and searching through websites proves to be an efficient way to learn about modern times. For

The Terror of History: On the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization by Dr. Teofilo R. Ruiz centers around the methods in which people cope with major historical tragedies comprising of the human condition. He categorizes these coping mechanisms into religion and the world to come, the world of matter and senses, and the lure of beauty and knowledge. To connect the reading with the History 2C course, the subjects of mysticism, heresy, and witchcraft are particular examples of how the masses utilized religion for the purpose of discovering life’s meaning and justifying the world’s destructive nature. Essentially, I agree with the practice

Historians believe they need to find the truth. They make arguments, write papers, and give lecture on what they are saying is the truth. Historians want to learn what happened. This is important, because history teaches many lessons. Students of history agree or disagree with historian's arguments and what they say happened or what is the cause of some event.

His main thesis is that the history of modern times is defined by how people have either followed the Judeo Christian worldview or have created ill-fitting replacements for those values. He supports this thesis extensively throughout the book with numerous examples. This is defined by a move away from limited self-government toward moral anarchy, and relativism. This move was encouraged by the ideas of Freud, Einstein, Marx and Nietzsche. This led to an increase in the overall size of government as self-government decreased and the desire for destruction of enemies and despotic power increased.

Crane Brinton’s “The Anatomy of Revolution” endeavors to establish uniformities in four revolutions: the English Revolution of the 1640’s, the American Revolution, the Great French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution. Not only does Brinton seek to analyze these four revolutions, but he aspires to present his thoughts and findings in an unbiased and methodical approach. With a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, and having spent several years as a professor at Harvard, Brinton is highly qualified in his work; which is exemplified in his novel. His work continues to be relevant to today, due to it’s well-written insight of revolutions, and the questions he poses which have still yet to be answered. Despite some literary choices

From this we acquire the first realization that history, as an academic study, does not exist in a vacuum, nor does it rely solely on its own vices. In contrast, we see that in the interminable quest to find the answer to the question of “what-really-happened-in-the-past” often we rely on things that were not necessarily originally designed to be works of history and people that do not consider themselves historians to provide an accurate picture of life at the time. (Note: looking at the historical qualities of architecture and buildings shows another example of this idea; they can show a lot about a culture, such as lifestyle, artistic sensibilities and social structure)

The book that we have chosen to review is titled “Lost History, the Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists”. The author of the book is Michael Hamilton Morgan. The book was published in the year 2007 and also holds the same copyright date. The book is a non-fiction. The main subject matter of the book is the history of the Islamic civilization from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

Why are people so impatient to leave their own culture to adopt new beliefs? Throughout history, African countries have been full of Christian Missionaries who offered education, as long as people in the village convert to their faith and learn English leaving behind their cultural roots. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the British colonized Nigeria and built churches in villages to get individuals to practice their religion. Thousands of Nigerians started to accept Christianity and reject their own traditions. As time went by, European missionaries gained much power in these tribes and started controlling people. The British believed their culture was superior. They felt they were bringing civilization to primitive "sinful" cultures. Some individuals decided to escape the British colonial education system to reveal the truth about their history and renew their beliefs. This is presented in the short story “The Headstrong Historian” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who writes to show the ways cultural conflict can influence different individuals in the same environment. Through her protagonist Grace, known as the headstrong historian, Adichie tells her own story and the story of her struggle to fight British ideologies. Adichie uses Grace 's dynamic character to show that an individual can reconstruct her lost knowledge of her people when she finds a cultural and spiritual connection to

A short story about a dystopian future in which everyone is equal and a short story about a Nigerian family reclaiming their history, on the surface, seem unalike, but Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Burgeron” and Chimanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Headstrong Historian” bear a strong resemblance when further examined. “Harrison Burgeron” and “The Headstrong Historian”, while seemingly different stories, share many similar themes and ideas. While “Harrison Bergeron” mainly considers people’s concept of equality this is not the central theme of “The Headstrong Historian”. They both delve into the theme of oppression.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” (Albert Einstein Quotes) Albert Einstein says that using imagination can take you everywhere, meaning that you can become anything or anyone and understand what is going on while you are that person or thing. Fiction activates your imagination and has you connect with the character to better understand what that character is going through. Fiction would then be valuable to historians because it helps them see the emotions of people during the time they are studying. To prove this, this essay will test the historical accuracy of The Headstrong Historian , by Chimamanda Adichie, by comparing it to nonfiction accounts, the vital truth of colonial Nigeria will be established,

The Distant Past is a short story, wrote by William Trevor, addresses the interweaving of the past and present. At first in the story, it seems as if the past tensions between the British and Irish have evaporated and happening a good cultural encounter but later in the story, this assumption proves to be untrue. It depicts the lives of two descendants of the Protestant Middleton family and “Old Irish” inhabitants in a time of the Troubles in the 1970s. The story focuses on the conflict between the Irish-Catholic townspeople and the brother and sister of the Middleton Family, who are loyal to the Protestant British, and there were the main characters in this story. Conflicts between the two religions date back to the 12th century when