River: History

[mdlbear]

Back in Junior High I was fascinated by the Civil War, in particular, and other aspects of history. I read a lot of biographies, too, though mostly of doctors and scientists rather than great leaders.

About half an hour ago I remembered the name of the High School history teacher who ruined the subject for me: Mrs. Ryan. History in her class became a matter of dates and events, of having the right number of references for your term paper, and the right number of footnotes per page, and every comma and colon in the right place in the bibliography. I hated it, and I hated her, and I still do.

From time to time I still read about the history of science and technology, and I still read biographies. But I'm no longer interested in the events and what people do in their lives. I'm interested in what and how they think -- their ideas, and how their minds work. If the events of the world become interesting at all, it's because of how they affect peoples' thinking, not the other way around. That's just a side-effect. I'm interested in mathematics, philosophies, systems of thought in general. It can be a fascinating thing, how those influence events out in the world, but it's not the important thing.

I suppose I have to thank Mrs. Ryan now, in a back-handed way, for helping to show me how unimportant dates and events are compared with what goes on in people's heads.

(0328) I think that what fascinated me most about the Civil War histories that I read was, not the politics or the specific events, but the descriptions of famous battles. The strategy and tactics of the war, not the politics.

Comments

[thefrugalgamer.livejournal.com]

Its too bad you had such a teacher; I had quite the opposite experience with history teachers, leading I suppose to me being the history geek I am now. Have you tried reading the Shelby Foote ACW history? Judging from your post, it would seem to be right up your alley, although he does also spend a lot of time on the politics. I find his presentation interesting none the less, and like you, I usually find political analysis tedious. (Sorry for this being late; I haven't looked in on LJ for a couple of days.)

Give Coleen my love.

Jim

[mdlbear]

Saw the mini-series on KQED. Good, but life is short and days are shorter still.