Allen Guelzo may have been careless about associating with any Trump event, but that is not my point. The critics of his view of what has happened to the teaching of our history seem to have forgotten or never learned that history is not what happened somewhere sometime in the past, but how events have been interpreted and why. Most people don’t like this fact at all and seek answers in history that are firm, but one needs to get used to the fact that this rarely can happen. History is not science but art, and not always fine art, unfortunately.
There is room to believe in a patriotic interpretation of our history and also in a radical denial of such an interpretation. What is most interesting is how the interpretations are gotten and what is done with them. Conservative, radical, moderate — all historians in their work can tend to forget this since they are mere human beings with the common desire, deep down, to know the truth. But if the truth will make you free we can easily see how rare freedom is, and why.
Allen Guelzo may have been careless about associating with any Trump event, but that is not my point. The critics of his view of what has happened to the teaching of our history seem to have forgotten or never learned that history is not what happened somewhere sometime in the past, but how events have been interpreted and why. Most people don’t like this fact at all and seek answers in history that are firm, but one needs to get used to the fact that this rarely can happen. History is not science but art, and not always fine art, unfortunately.
There is room to believe in a patriotic interpretation of our history and also in a radical denial of such an interpretation. What is most interesting is how the interpretations are gotten and what is done with them. Conservative, radical, moderate — all historians in their work can tend to forget this since they are mere human beings with the common desire, deep down, to know the truth. But if the truth will make you free we can easily see how rare freedom is, and why.