L ESSONS F ROM T HE P AST? Ray Bradbury's "The Chicago Abyss" is a tale of an old man who remembers too much. In the rubble of some bombed out urban center, the people physically abuse the old man when he shares his memories of such things as Baby Ruth candy bars, music, restaurants, and television. A small group protects and cares for the old guy, hiding him from the ever-searching police. Of course, the reason for the loathing and fear of this gentleman was that he held a frame of reference that degraded the present. This brings us to the matter of controlling such memories and the proverbial "lessons of history." Although the past is for all intents and purposes gone (the present is shaped by its own past and future), it is routinely resurrected to serve various functions. For instance, in the post-911 era of Homeland Security , the Patriot Act , and White House framings of policy criticism being unpatriotic, NPR observed in March 2004 the 50th anniversary of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's appearance of Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now." Each generation selects its own historyand the ancestors it chooses to remember. As George Orwell observed, "Whoever controls the past controls the future. Whoever controls the present controls the past." - Click here for more thoughts on the implications of historical ignorance
G ENERAL HISTORICAL RESOURCES - From Peter N. Stearns and his colleagues
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