Steffany’s Reviews > Telling the Truth About History > Status Update

on this page I really enjoyed the quote "all people are the historians of their own lives" because when you think about it they really are. This is seen through oral histories, each memory means something, it helps add to the narrative.

I like how on this page it discusses that each person's individuals research starts with the interest, thus leading to subjectivity. This is seen in other areas of study not just history which is what I think is the most important factor. All fields have subjectivity.

here the page says: "subjectivity taints all history" this quote is important to acknowledge because everything in history holds biases because of the nature of humans. It is important to know what biases each book or work holds so you can understand the perspective of the piece.

here the page says: "one man's truth is another woman's falsity" I think this quote has a lot of insight into what history is. Everything is perspective and people see events completely different.

here the page discusses the winning over by the progressive thinking. "Progress came from material advances" this quote puts it into perspective by saying it moved history forward via materials.

"science seems different in character-more provisional less absolute--" I find this interesting. Science in my mind in absolute and can be proven. They seemed to move forward with the use of reasoning in decision making.

"For any history is always someones history"-- Wow. These words really hit something for me. Competing in speech and debate helps me try to give voices to those not able to speak. Without help, the people who's histories these belonged to would never get to be known as they should be.

"If truth depends on observer's standpoint how can there be any transcendent, universal, or absolute truth?"-- This question asked is an interesting one for sure. One that truly made me question what I knew about history. History is something that is always changing, there is no absolute do to the fact that interpretations are always changing with the times. Interesting.