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Editor's Introduction to the Online Text of
An Introduction to the History of History, by James T. Shotwell
I was far beyond my school years when I first began to question what I was taught. Even a few years ago, doubting the infallibility of a textbook never occurred to me. Television, newspapers, and radio on the other hand, were known to be regularly unreliable as sources of fact.
It was only three years ago that I seriously questioned the historical views I had held, as well as those shared by much of the world.\
In defense of my pitiful gullibility, Shotwell in his text says that this is not unheard of. Historical Criticism is a recent development in mankind's intellectual evolution.
It didn't even hurt to be classed with the naive! That is how good a writer and historian Shotwell is. He brings the History of the Making of History alive and seriously enlightens as well, both in the broad principles and in all the fascinating details.
It is necessary material to understand, so that the politician's, advertiser's, and lawyer's, greatest asset greatest asset, The Gullibility of the Majority, can become an extinct characteristic on which he cannot rely.
The process is begun nicely in Shotwell's book. So if you don't know what I am talking about, or even if you think you know all this already, get started on the path to enlightenment HERE.
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