The Ten Pieces Of Knowledge

Ever since the beginning of civilization starting with the beginnings of even Mesopotamia, history has not only been biased but written by one type of people: the winners. Rarely in history do the winners of a war or battle not write what had happened in their single point of view. The losers are nearly always left out; they're side is almost never heard or even known to exist. The three greatest examples of this bias approach to history are the actions of Hernán Cortes and the destruction of the Aztec civilization and Tenochticlan, Ramses the second and his rule of Egypt and conquest of the Middle East, and lastly Julius Caesar and his domination of both Rome and the Mediterranean Sea. These three men and their actions are prime examples of the writing of history only being done by those who victor and succeed. They went and defeated their enemies allowing no other perspective but their own to be written in history; whether it was the Aztecs, the Hittites or the German barbarians, no other mindset was heard other than the winners. From the beginning of civilization to end of civilization, only the winners of a conflict will write history and will determine what the future knows.

In reading a Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich you realize that history seems so much less complicated when you are the one standing back and reflecting on the past. You realize how easy it is to often forget that every single new idea, religion and war was a struggle that lasted generations upon generations. History is more than just a page or a story, its our account of the world. That goes to show how short life and history is, you realize that history is always repeating, war after war, peace then war. There are good and bad periods in history and its up to us to learn from them. In a way history is much like a human being it goes through stages, learns about life, and has inner struggles or wars about their ideas and their beliefs.

First of all, history is influential because it teaches people in groups, individuals, or as nations how humans perceive a complicated situation. Furthermore, how humans solve these complications is something we are also taught. In this

In Telling the Truth About History, three historians discuss how the expanded skepticism and the position that relativism has reduced our capacity to really know and to expound on the past. The book talks about the written work of history and how individuals are battling with the issues of what is “truth.” It likewise examines the post-modernist development and how future historians

Is history always the way it has been told, or are there multiple truths that meet in one point and intersect? Presentism is what modern historians do to the past. The way in which presentism reveals and formats information about history is simplified and modified. This, for the most part, is not the exact way these events took place. Important parts and concepts are changed in order to fit into modern views and interpretation. Many historians are accepting of either the victim's or perpetrator's side. Sometimes picking one particular side may skew the hard facts of the situation or event. Failure of telling the accurate past can lead

Not all is known and the facts passed down may not reveal the whole truth. History is biased and can easily be manipulated by those with more power, and it is a modern historian’s job to weed through the commonly accepted information, and try to find the truth. If the truth is not found, then they present alternative theories to broaden the world’s knowledge on the possible course of events in the

Recorded history is nothing but the belief or bias of the man who wrote it. Often when discussing history, people us the popular phrase, “the winner writes the history books” or something along the lines. But nevertheless, the phrase does hold true. All history that is written is biased, but it is up to the reader to find the truth in within history. No matter what history is written, there will always be a different perspective, a different society, and a different perception of what is truly going on. History does not tell us the absolute truth, but it gives us a morphed version of the truth that we, as readers, must interpret to find the truth.

History books will always be the way they are forever and always. There is no going back and changing what happened in the past, but that doesn’t mean the future will entail the same outcomes. For example, my hometown of Paducah, Kentucky was occupied by the Union army for the majority of the war, but Paducah Tilghman High School is actually named after the wife of General Lloyd Tilghman, an officer in the Confederate Army. There so happens to be a statue of Lloyd Tilghman himself in front of the original school building. The statue was donated by the children of Lloyd as well as the money needed to build a High School in memory of their

History can be an intricate and laborious subject to teach and learn. James W. Loewen, author, historian, and sociologist, is the perfect example of someone who appreciates the subject in all aspects, but knows how underestimated it is. As he says in Lies My Teacher Told Me, “Our educational media turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest” (Loewen 11). Throughout the book, he further elucidated the idea of that quote by introducing particular topics that deserved more details and acknowledgement. Loewen argues with enough reasoning from numerous textbooks that the writers aren’t involving all facts that should be included to inform the students. Nearly all points

By teaching only the happy-go-lucky versions of history, people are not able to learn from previous ancestors’ mistakes and, instead, are more prone to causing history to repeat itself through their own ignorant

My position in many ways can be refuted, after all history is written by the victor after all, but in more way it can be supported. History

In the same way, events of the past are often written and passed down from the point of view of the “victors” and “losers” resulting in very biased and often inaccurate retellings (class notes). That’s where history comes into the picture. A historian who spoke to my youth group defined history very well explaining that, “The past is everything that happened before the present. History is what is known about the past.” Yet, since records of the past are often written by biased “victors” and “losers” history often tends to be biased as well. As will be seen with history textbooks, this can result in

History writing has evolved much over time with the contributions of many people. In the modern sense, it can be traced back to ancient Greece and China, where historians Herodotus and Sima Qian began keeping records of human existence. Although they were not literally the first people to write history, together they are named the first great historians of the Western world and the East because of their individual innovations and extensive work that has long affected history writing up until this day. There is much to debate when it comes to the greatness of these ancient historians, and although some believe they were both important and successful in what their works, The Histories and The Records of a Historian, accomplished, others

History the facts we have to know in order to avoid the same mistakes that might have happed in the past. As we know history

How does the way history is told have power in our understanding of the past and present?