Historical revisionism
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| − | All writers of history, and historians, are influenced by the [[ | + | All writers of history, and historians, are influenced by the [[Zeitgeist]] the "spirit of the times." Rampant racism in late 19th century America was the reason the then-contemporary [[wp:Dunning school|Dunning school]] of Reconstruction historiography all but ignored blacks, for example. Thus, when cultural attitudes undergo dramatic shifts, historians also seek to re-examine history from the new cultural perspective. |
*Carl Oglesby, whose ''The Yankee and Cowboy War'' frames 20th century U.S. politics as a power struggle between two competing aristocracies, one based in the north and east in banking, Wall Street, and prep and Ivy League social networks; the other in the south and west in oil, real estate, energy, and high tech. | *Carl Oglesby, whose ''The Yankee and Cowboy War'' frames 20th century U.S. politics as a power struggle between two competing aristocracies, one based in the north and east in banking, Wall Street, and prep and Ivy League social networks; the other in the south and west in oil, real estate, energy, and high tech. | ||
*Murray Rothbard, Austrian school economics theorist and libertarian who wrote several works attempting to adjust conventional wisdom about the Great Depression, early American history, war, and other topics.<ref>It could be argued he belongs in the "jumped the shark late in life" list because of his sudden apparent conversion to Pat Buchanan fandom and police brutality apologetics in the last five years of his life.</ref> | *Murray Rothbard, Austrian school economics theorist and libertarian who wrote several works attempting to adjust conventional wisdom about the Great Depression, early American history, war, and other topics.<ref>It could be argued he belongs in the "jumped the shark late in life" list because of his sudden apparent conversion to Pat Buchanan fandom and police brutality apologetics in the last five years of his life.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 07:48, 10 December 2011
“”Interpretations of the past are subject to change in response to new evidence, new questions asked of the evidence, new perspectives gained by the passage of time. [...] The unending quest of historians for understanding the past—that is, "revisionism"—is what makes history vital and meaningful.
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| —Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson[1] |
Historical revisionism is a practice in historiography in which a historian reinterprets traditional views of causes and effects, decisions, and evidence. It is said that "history is written by the winners." Thus, it is essential that we look at history with a critical eye. As such, it is an accepted and important part of historical endeavor for it serves the dual purpose of constantly re-examining the past while also improving our understanding of it. Indeed, if one accepts that history attempts to help us better understand today by better understanding how we got here, revisionism is essential. Only idiots take history wholeheartedly as indisputable facts.
Issues arise, however, when a historian presents a revisionist thesis, such as "America was founded by a radical Zionist cabal" or "Communism had its origins in Picasso's Blue Period," and do not back it up with anything resembling credible facts. They may even deny the credibility of those facts (see the section on denialists below) or ignore contradictory evidence (it was the Rose Period that was plastered with anti-capitalist messages, not the Blue). This is exceedingly rare, but when it happens it usually has much more publicity than the "boring" academic revisionism.
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Origin of term
Following World War I "Revisionism" first came into use to denote those who wanted to revise the Treaty of Versailles as unfair to Germany given the new evidence emerging. This movement was primarily among progressive sociologists and historians associated with the New Republic, The Nation and the Christian Century, to debunk wartime propaganda especially as it related to drawing the United States into the war and the question of sole German guilt for starting the war. Groups with other views on the Treaty of Versailles, the so-called Salvagers and Bitterenders wanted to keep the treaty as-was. After the rise of Hitler this became a moot point, the other terms were forgotten, and revisionism acquired its current meaning applicable to any subject. For a while in the middle 20th century the term suffered from redundant overuse (Pearl Harbor "revisionism", "revisionism" about the Joe Hill and Sacco/Vanzetti cases...) The distasteful connotations of the term appear to date from around 1979 when negationists such as Willis Carto appropriated the term and began calling themselves "holocaust revisionists". Henceforth, historical revisionism has sometimes been used as a snarl word and accusing someone of peddling revisionist history a cheap way of brushing them off by implying they are of the same ilk as the Holocaust deniers. This is unfortunate given that historians are always discovering new facts and revising historical narratives, making revisionism a legitimate practice and a continuous process: in a sense, saying "revisionist history" is redundant to just calling it "history".
Types of revisionists
The vast majority of revisionist historians do very legitimate work—a well-known example for modern times is Howard Zinn, the author of A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. However, just as science will always have to deal with pseudoscience and economics will always have to deal with Ayn Rand, historiography must deal with its share of denialists, negationists, and fringe authors.
Legitimate types
Group-oriented
Much of historical revisionism is the re-examination of historical periods and events from the point of view of a specific group, like women, blacks, Native Americans, the working class, etc. These revisionists feel that the traditional views have ignored or downplayed the role a particular group played in the event—for example, early Reconstruction historiography largely ignored the economic and social gains of freedmen, focusing on the plight of the Southern whites. Here are some examples of this type of revisionism:
- Robert Harvey, former assistant editor of the The Economist, author of A Few Bloody Noses, a British based interpretation of the American Revolution, which exaggerates the oppression of Native Americans in the conflict.
- Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, which presents American history from the viewpoint of class conflict and argues that it has been continually a story of the elite oppressing the common people of the nation. It examines the 500 years since European arrival in North America from the perspective of ordinary people's lives, rather than the tableaux of wars and "great men" that usually define conventional histories.
- Eric Foner, author of Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, arguing that while blacks did not attain full equality during Reconstruction, it represented a "foot in the door" of equality, and was the precursor to the civil rights movement a hundred years later.[2]
Cultural
All writers of history, and historians, are influenced by the Zeitgeist the "spirit of the times." Rampant racism in late 19th century America was the reason the then-contemporary Dunning school of Reconstruction historiography all but ignored blacks, for example. Thus, when cultural attitudes undergo dramatic shifts, historians also seek to re-examine history from the new cultural perspective.
- Carl Oglesby, whose The Yankee and Cowboy War frames 20th century U.S. politics as a power struggle between two competing aristocracies, one based in the north and east in banking, Wall Street, and prep and Ivy League social networks; the other in the south and west in oil, real estate, energy, and high tech.
- Murray Rothbard, Austrian school economics theorist and libertarian who wrote several works attempting to adjust conventional wisdom about the Great Depression, early American history, war, and other topics.[3]
- Philip Jenkins, left wing historian, author of A History of the United States. Originally British, now claims American citizenship. Focuses on the influence of the far right in his studies; tends to attribute right wing conspiracy theories for much of the American social failures from 1950 onward.
Economic
Just like there are economic historians, there are revisionist economic historians, such as:
- Charles Beard's enormously influential (but now largely discredited) 1913 book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States argued that the economic situations and interests of the Constitutional Convention attendees greatly influenced them.
- A Monetary History of the United States, by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, presented much of American history from a "monetarist" point of view.
Marxist
Marxist revisionists use social class, the social relations of production, and economic conditions as their main lens, and see these as the primary catalysts for social change throughout history, as Karl Marx himself did. Marxist historians are not necessarily communists, though most tend to be left-leaning. One flaw of Marxist history is that its hypotheses are often not provable or falsifiable, since it asserts that historical figures and events were influenced by socio-economic factors which may not have been apparent at the time.
Some examples of Marxist analysis include the following:
- Marxist historians of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras, particularly Christopher Hill, have argued that many of the grassroots Puritan movements emerging in this time, such as the proliferation of spontaneous religious sects during the English Civil War and Interregnum, were actually expressing social and economic frustrations. These movements' revolutionary criticisms and demands were couched in religious terms, since Christianity was the dominant worldview through which all ideas were expressed and, according to Marxist theory, the movements' leaders and members would have been unable to express their discontent in secular terms.
- Marxist historians have argued that the American Civil War was a revolutionary moment for capitalism, insofar as industrial capitalism became the only economic system of the United States, unhindered by the "feudal" economy of the antebellum South.
Unsavory types
Wingnuts
Fox News had a habit of saying "history will be the judge" of the Administration of George W. Bush—an interesting way of deferring responsibility for current events to a hazy future. Neocons have even begun to write the implied history favorable to the Bush White House, especially his main foreign policy faux pas.[4] American wingnuts and reactionaries have also long endeavored to rewrite history from the point of view of extreme exceptionalism and Americentrism. Here are some examples:
- William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, who is even now busily rewriting the history of the United States's glorious successes in the Iraq War.
- In a more recent (March 2010) example, extreme wingnuts won the vote to revise Texan history and social studies textbooks to promote American superiority,
capitalismthe free enterprise system,[5] and Christian values. Considering Texas is the largest buyer of textbooks in United States, this will have a big impact on history classes in schools across the country, if only the "Texas version" is available to smaller school systems.[6][7] - B.G. Burkett, whose book Stolen Valor is a complete rewrite of the conventional wisdom about the Vietnam War. According to the book: agent orange, PTSD, homeless vets, and antiwar vets groups are all inventions of liberals trying to expand the welfare state, most of the popular nonfiction on the war is riddled with fraudulent testimonies, most atrocities attributed to U.S. troops never actually happened, and nobody is really a Vietnam vet, even if they really were in Vietnam, unless they hew to his noxious brand of neoconservatism. This late 1990s book swiftboated John Kerry in this way several years before swiftboating was even a word. [8].
- William Bennett, drug warrior, moral panic purveyor, and author of such works as America: the Last Best Hope, which attempts to tell the story of America from the perspective of strong American exceptionalism, and the pretentiously titled The Book of Virtues.
- The nonsense from wingnuts that A) Hitler was a liberal. B) The Confederacy they used to love so much was liberal all along. C) Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement were conservatives. and D)Bush kept us safe. For many of these, especially A and C, see Glenn Beck.
- The Japanese internment camps were justified and right. See Michelle Malkin and her book In Defense of Internment.
- Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism were right all along. See Ann Coulter.
These examples are often referred to as "triumphalism," which is the attempt to use history to create a Passion Play type morality tale to extol the virtues of an ideology or a group (like American exceptionalism or Christianity). This is sometimes given the pejorative nickname "Whig history" or "Whiggishness" in reference to triumphalist histories pushed by British Whig politicians in the early 20th century.
Denialists
Legitimate historical revisionism acknowledges a 'certain body of irrefutable evidence' that confirms that an event (like the Holocaust) did occur. Denialism, on the other hand, rejects the entire foundation of historical evidence, and is closely related to historical negationism. Here are a few examples:
- David Irving, historian and holocaust denier.[9]
- Communists, Fascists, and other totalitarians. In the USSR "history" was constantly edited to reflect the current Party line, while Nazi Germany had the Dolchstosslegende, the idea that Germany had lost World War I because Jews had stabbed the country in the back.
- During the early 2000s, the Japanese government approved several history textbooks that downplayed Japan's own war crimes prior to and during World War II. It's no surprise that the Chinese and the Koreans (from both North and South) reacted strongly to this. [10][11]
- But apparently, that doesn't stop the Chinese Communist government from doing the very exact same thing when it comes to fessing up to their own atrocities.[12]
- Harry Elmer Barnes, a respected academic and progressive historian before World War II who did much to establish historical revisionism as a legitimate academic field. Later lost his credibility and endorsed Holocaust denial.
Special category: Supporters of the historically illiterate
During the run-up to the 2012 Presidential campaigns, some GOP candidates made famous verbal gaffes. Rather than admit that they had made mistakes, these candidates continued to claim that their inaccuracies were factually correct. And their supporters -- who would doubtlessly balk at any hint of "pinko commie" historical revisionism -- realized that they could edit Wikipedia to support these alternate versions of history. And that's exactly what they did.
- On 2 June 2011, Sarah Palin said the following:
“”He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.[13]
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- Of course, not a single bit of this description of Paul Revere's midnight ride is correct. Still, this didn't stop Caribou Barbie's supporters from relentlessly revising Revere's page on Wikipedia. In response, Wikipedia was forced to lock the page to prevent any further
vandalismrevisions.
- Not to be outdone, on 28 June 2011, Michele Bachmann claimed that John Quincy Adams was one of the Founding Fathers. On 4 July 1776, he was one week shy of his ninth birthday. Perhaps she was confused by the similarity of his name to the name of his father (who really was one of the Founding Fathers), John Adams. But then again, when pressed on this, Bachmann stated:
"Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved."[14]
As with Palin's backers, Bachmann's backers took their shots at editing the John Quincy Adams page on Wikipedia.[15]
Reasons
There are a number of reasons why historical revisionism occurs, and why the first perspective on a period or event does not remain the orthodoxy forever. These include:
New evidence
As with many other disciplines, if new data become available, current conclusions must be reassessed. In history and historiography, the following may occur:
- Documents and objects are discovered.
- Governments release classified information to the public.
- As languages are deciphered, more sources become available.
- Advances in science and technology make more data accessible, such as the ages and authenticity of artifacts like the Shroud of Turin.
Cultural shifts
As cultures develop and change, new perspectives arise, and with them new perspectives on history. See above.
Ideologies
Ideology can be a major motivating factor for revisionism. The previously mentioned "Texas textbook massacre" is an example of a reevaluation of America's founders from a far right point of view—removing references to "democracy" and replacing it with "constitutional republic" and removing mentions of Thomas Jefferson, for instance. Ideologically motivated revisionism is generally frowned upon, as it tends to lead to bad places.
See also
- Memory hole
- History
- Herstory
- Pseudohistory
- Alternate historical chronology
- Burning the evidence
- Denialism
- Negationism
- Presentism
Footnotes
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row. 1988. ISBN 0-06-015851-4. Political history; and winner, in 1989, of the Bancroft Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Avery O. Craven Prize, and the Lionel Trilling Prize.
- ↑ It could be argued he belongs in the "jumped the shark late in life" list because of his sudden apparent conversion to Pat Buchanan fandom and police brutality apologetics in the last five years of his life.
- ↑ Interestingly enough, Bush's "national security brain trust" was trying to do this even before he left office.
- ↑ Because, they explain, you can't very easily say, "You free enterprise system supporting pig!"
- ↑ Extreme wingnuttery at work!
- ↑ NY Times Article
- ↑ On the other hand he does expose a few deserving (and obvious) targets like David Duke
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4733820.stm
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1257835.stm
- ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/china.japan.protest.media/index.html?iref=newssearch
- ↑ Good luck trying to learn about the Tiananmen Square Protests, The Great Leap Forward, Chinese cultural/demographic oppression of the Tibetans, and the Cultural Revolution in Chinese government-approved history textbooks [2][3]
- ↑ Malcolm, Andrew. "Sarah Palin claims Paul Revere warned the British", Los Angeles Times blogs, posted 3 June 2011.
- ↑ Stephanopoulos, George. "John Quincy Adams a Founding Father? Michele Bachmann Says Yes", ABC News website blog George's Bottom Line, posted 28 June 2011.
- ↑ Somanader, Tanya. "John Quincy Adams Wikipedia Page Edited To Describe Him As A ‘Founding Father’", Think Progress website, posted 28 June 2011.