And History for All

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” (Cicero)

I’ve run into a few history haters of late. Yes, they DO exist!

Someone recently said to me that ‘history is just boring. What’s the use? I live in the present, not the past.’

After a few deep breaths, I got control of my outrage. How could someone say such a thing? To me it’s such an obviously ignorant statement.

But then I asked myself ‘What turned that person (like so many others) so completely off of history in the first place?’ I’ll bet that anyone who hates history loves a good story, loves to watch movies set in the past, likes to hear about people’s victories, defeats, great love affairs, suffering, loss, adventures, beliefs etc. etc.  What’s not to like?

“History isn't about dates and places and wars. It's about the people who fill the spaces between them.” (Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller)

History IS about people. It’s about the reasons and motivations behind all those dates, and wars, and places. And because it’s about people, there is always something that other people, in any age, can relate to and learn from.

I think the root of the problem for all those folks who despise history is that it was badly taught or presented. When you think about it, we’ve all had a bad teacher in one subject or another, history being no exception.

In high school, I had one good history teacher. The others, I don’t even remember. That history teacher told us those personal anecdotes of people during the periods we were studying. He brought history to life using not only stories, but also props, movies, and artifacts.

Isn’t history a record of human life as it has been played out?

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” (Rudyard Kipling, The Collected Works)

Mr. Kipling hit the nail on the head there. If history were taught in an interesting way, the number of naysayers would be far less. I’ve always believed that good historical fiction should be a part of every history curriculum.

Sadly, not one of my elementary, high school, or university history courses ever included historical fiction on the reading list. On the contrary, the teachers often slammed historical fiction, especially at the university level.

Big mistake! Imagine the possible classroom conversations about an historical person or topic that the students might have read about in a fascinating or gut-wrenching novel!

That would have been much better than “This general marched with his army in such and such a date to such and such a place,” or “On such and such a date, such and such a tyrant was defeated in this battle.”

Honestly, that sounds like the history of nowhere to me. Every era taught the in the same boring way, oftentimes without any passion for the subject. How are you supposed to hook your audience?

“The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.”  (Stephen E. Ambrose)

I think it’s also important to encourage diversity of interest in various periods of history, and what better way to do that than through fiction.

Among history lovers’ circles, I’ve also run into what can only be called ‘period snobbery’.

If history is really about people, and people of the past are how we can most easily relate to history, then there is something to be learned or gained from every period of history, in every place.

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” (Aldous Huxley)

In my studies, I found something interesting in every period of history to clamp onto. Again, the common denominator of the ages is people - flawed, impassioned, messy people.

The Gods must truly be having a laugh, or a good cry, when they watch us mortals. History is an eternity of entertainment.

It’s not to say that history lovers don’t have their favourite periods to which they gravitate. I love the ancient and medieval worlds; these span thousands of years, so I suppose that my tastes are pretty varied.

However, I can still remember being rapt by my American history course when it came to the Civil War, or the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. I never thought industrialization could be interesting, or Regency England for that matter, until I studied them a little.

Medieval Japan? Very cool. Learning about cuneiform in Mesopotamia? Brilliant!

Another good example is movies or Television shows. Of course, I loved Gladiator, The Fall of The Roman Empire and other ancient-themed movies. I also enjoy watching The Tudors, and the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice alongside I Claudius.

“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.” (Michael Crichton)

Myth and Legend are also a part of history, a deep-rooted part of human existence.

What I find amazing and unfortunate is that there are some people who make a career for themselves out of trying to disprove what is history and culture to others.

Often I’ll read a quote from one of these folks that belittles even the greatest beliefs or achievements of the ancients, be it about their gods, their rituals, their cures, and their stories.

I think history and the people of the past require and deserve a bit more respect and attention than that.

 “Fiction is written with reality and reality is written with fiction. We can write fiction because there is reality and we can write reality because there is fiction; everything we consider today to be myth and legend, our ancestors believed to be history and everything in our history includes myths and legends. Before the splendid modern-day mind was formed our cultures and civilizations were conceived in the wombs of, and born of, what we identify today as "fiction, unreality, myth, legend, fantasy, folklore, imaginations, fabrications and tall tales." And in our suddenly realized glory of all our modern-day "advancements" we somehow fail to ask ourselves the question "Who designated myths and legends as unreality? " But I ask myself this question because who decided that he was spectacular enough to stand up and say to our ancestors "You were all stupid and disillusioned and imagining things" and then why did we all decide to believe this person?” ( C. JoyBell C.)

I love this quote, and it's so true. In man's search for scientific reasoning and advancement, he has, at the same time sought to explain away so many rich aspects of our actual history.

Myths and legends ARE history. They were not mere fireside tales intended to entertain the drunken masses, or stories whose sole purpose was to lull children to sleep after suckling at their mothers' breasts.

Perhaps this is one reason that history classes today tend to be so boring for many students? If myths and legends were taught as history and not as pure fabrication that is so easily explained away, those classes would be riveting. We would be inspired by the past, and not bored by it.

If history is about people, then we would do well to try and look at things as those people did if we really want to understand them.

Hindsight can be useful when studying the past, but it can also be a poison that leads our modern minds to think we are superior to all that has gone before.

History is for all - every person, every period, every aspect has value.

“Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.” (Niccolò Machiavelli)

Thank you for reading.

Popular Historical Shite? – Bring it on!

I loved the movie, Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves.

I still do.

There. I’ve said it. You may laugh now. It’s ok. I’ve got a good set of armour on.

For me that movie, Kevin Costner's accent and all, was a game changer. It gave my life some much needed direction in the confusing dark times of my early teenage years.

I’ve heard Robin Hood, Excalibur, Braveheart, Gladiator, the shows Hercules and Xena, and others, all called ‘popular crap’, ‘ridiculous’, ‘inaccurate drivel’, and loads of other names mostly by academics from the dusty upper floors of their ivory towers.

The critics pan these movies and shows, citing the poor acting, sad story lines and over-stretched budgets that somehow mark them as unworthy of viewing. Gladiator was the only one to garner any respect (less so for Braveheart) and that was probably due to the Oscars it rounded up (that was fantastic BTW!).

Robin Hood tends to lay gutted on the bottom of the pile of popular historical 'shite', bleeding into memory – that movie that was so ‘bad’, the one that Kevin Costner ‘butchered’.

You know what? I don’t care. I thought that film was brilliant and magical. Here’s why:

When the movie came out in 1991 I was fifteen going on sixteen and trying to navigate that utterly depressing world known as High School – which, for the record, I loathed.

I was hanging out with some questionable characters, not doing very well in class and had no real idea or vision for the future, my future.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t beaten or fed plates of gruel. I’m one of the fortunate ones who had a caring home life, parents who listened and a brother with whom it did not often come to outright fisticuffs. Swords yes, but rarely fists.

However, I did lack an interest to give me direction.

Then one Friday night, my dad comes home and hands me a video tape of Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves.

“Look what I’ve got,” he says. “Let’s watch it tonight. I think you’ll like it.”

Being a black-clad teenager, I grunted in response and hunkered down in silence on the sectional for a couple of hours.

If I remember correctly, I was hooked right from the beginning as the opening credits rolled images of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman Conquest. 

Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry

Of course, I didn’t know what the Norman Conquest was at the time, or that the year 1066 was any more significant than a thousand other dates.

It was the power of those images, the heroic music by Michael Kamen, and of course the fantastic story of Robin Hood that pulled me in and didn’t let go.

I can still remember sitting there that first time. Oh yes, I think I was a ‘popular historical’ virgin up to that point. I was so hooked that I watched that movie every day for six days straight, enjoying it every single time.

I watched Robin’s skill with blade and bow with awe, thrilled to his duel with the Sherriff of Nottingham, expertly played by Alan Rickman. The romantic in me was even awakened by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio with whom I had fallen desperately in love.

History, and an ancient story, had spoken to me and I was having an epiphany – I loved it and that was what I wanted to do. I then decided that history was what I wanted to study.

As it turned out, that summer I had the opportunity to go to England with my mom to visit family. That first journey across the pond only served to fuel the fires of my enthusiasm.

I wanted to walk through every castle and manor house I saw, touch every suit of armour and look closely at every nicked sword blade on display in every museum. I was insatiable.

Carcasonne - France
Where part of Robin Hood was filmed

When I returned home, my parents bought me all the books (new and used) that I wanted on the Middle Ages, ancient world, swords, armour, the Crusades, you name it. I got a used book on the Bayeux Tapestry that I still have to this day. Biographies of kings and queens, chivalric ideals and stories of King Arthur, Robin Hood and others abounded. I also took up archery and fencing.

What is the point of all this?

My point is that without having seen that supposedly ‘crappy’ movie, I might not have become interested in all of this. I might not have improved my grades in high school, or gone on to undergrad studies in medieval history, a Master’s in Dark Age studies, or to work in museums or archaeology.

Without Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves, I might not be writing!

Throughout my years in university and academic circles, I’ve always heard the same old argument that popular history is rubbish and a complete waste of time. “Stay away from that stuff!” one of my professor’s said one day after Braveheart had hit the big screens.

But you know what? That so-called ‘popular shite’ sparks more interest in young people’s minds than any lame, snoot-nosed history teacher who lectures their students without caring whether or not they are capturing their listeners’ imaginations.

It’s no wonder that movies like Robin Hood or Gladiator have left increased enrollment in medieval and ancient history courses in their wakes. They got people excited. What a concept!

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a couple of good history teachers who did capture my imagination, who loved anything having to do with history. Sadly, most were not so good, but I’m glad that didn’t deter me.

I’ve been told by several of my readers that my writing makes history interesting to them, and THAT pleases me to no end.

This applies not only to movies but to all forms of popular historical fiction.

In the current issue of the Historic Novels Review, Richard Lee, the founder of the Historic Novel Society, notes that he has “heard EVERY type of historical fiction ridiculed for being untrue to the history. Sometimes the spite that is unleashed is phenomenal… My own view is that all kinds of historical fiction have value.”

I couldn’t agree more. Whether it is the period of history, or the format (book, TV or film), the sad truth is that popular history has often been frowned upon, locked out of the academic castle.

However, the numbers are far greater outside the walls of that castle and it is my hope that the gates will eventually be battered down so that the people can flood in, not to massacre, but to live together with the few in their towers.

Academia has its purpose, which is of utmost importance to our knowledge of the past. But there is also a place for popular historical fiction, a purpose in gathering people around, firing their interests and setting them on the path to learning more. It’s all good!

To quote Morgan Freeman’s character, Azeem, in Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves:

“Allah loves wondrous variety.”

What's your favourite popular historical?