Why is our written history so one sided?

Question

Anyway, history is written from one point of view.

Answer 1

Historians like to write about the glories and not about the things we are ashamed of.

Answer 2

This is always a problem, which is why people need to investigate different sources.

Just as an an example from my own life, I'd heard the story of The Alamo strictly from the American point of view; when I got to college I took a course in Latin American history and got a whole other side of the situation from the Mexican viewpoint.

Remember, too, that history is written by the winners, and they will invariably be biased.

Answer 3

That is why written history is only the start. A real historian knows that written history is merely a guide for the sciences that confirm or debunk history. Herodotus says their were a people known as Scythians south of the black sea. Archaeologists dig there find a people called Scythians. Plato says there once was a place known as Atlantis, archaeologists can not find it. No Atlantis until there is.

Herodotus was a known exaggerator and perhaps lier while Plato was the author of Philosophy and one of Western histories great moral figures. SO the writer is inconsequential, it is the evidence that supports the writings that matter.

Answer 4

History is all based on who is recording the history. The person's views are always going to be represented in the retelling of that event. Much like story telling where facts would change or be exaggerated with every retelling of a story except now a days when we tell our stories they are usually brought to us through the eyes of the media first. In that situation we have their views and opinions and they have to base ours on what we have already seen.

Answer 5

I am a harsh critic of America's actions in Iraq. However,as a former American history teacher, I would just like to say I was always able to teach about the mistakes and cruelties in American history such as the treatment of native Americans and Afro-Americans-in fact these negatives took up much of the class. Unlike many countries, at least most Americans are exposed to their country's mistakes; in many countries these are entirely ignored. Sadly,however, Americans do not know enough about their own history to learn from their mistakes.

Answer 6

Read A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn. It is a very enlightening book on many historical inaccuracies. It tells the history of America from the point of view of those not in power.

Answer 7

Not only do the victors write it - they glorify themselves in the process.

History = the history of conquest politics/elite society.

Answer 8

the victors write history

Answer 9

to the victors go the spoils....sorry, ever since the days Ramses II's defeat at Kadesh against the Hitites, we only hear the propaganda of one side.

Answer 10

"History is written by the victors."