Читать книгу Keeping the Republic - Christine Barbour - Страница 63

When Columbus stepped ashore on Guanahani Island in October 1492, he planted the Spanish flag in the sand and claimed the land as a possession of Ferdinand and Isabella. He did so despite the obvious fact that the island already belonged to someone else—the “Indians” who gathered on the beach to gaze with wonder at the strangers who had suddenly arrived in three great, white-winged canoes. He gave no thought to the rights of the local inhabitants. Nearly every later explorer—French, English, Dutch and all the others as well as the Spanish—thoughtlessly dismissed the people they encountered. What we like to think of as the discovery of America was actually the invasion and conquest of America.

Which one of these passages is “true”? The first was the conventional textbook wisdom through the 1960s in America. The latter reflects a growing criticism that traditional American history has been told from the perspective of history’s “winners,” largely white males of European background. Together they show that history varies depending on who is doing the telling, when, and to whom. What this means to you is that the critical vigilance we urge you to apply to all information should be applied to your textbooks as well. And, yes, that means this textbook, too. In an age of mediated citizenship, you really have your work cut out for you.

There is some truth to the idea that history is written by the winners, but it is also true that the winners change over time. If history was once securely in the hands of white European males, it is now the battleground of a cultural war between those who believe the old way of telling history was accurate and those who believe it left out the considerable achievements of women and minorities and masked some of the less admirable episodes of our past.²

Bias is not reserved for history books; this textbook itself has a point of view. In these pages we have an interest in highlighting power and citizenship, in focusing on the impact of the rules in American politics, and in multiculturalism. We do not think that the outstanding political accomplishments of the traditional heroes of American history warrant ignoring the contributions of people who have not historically been powerful.

The fact that all textbooks have some sort of bias means you must be as careful in what you accept from textbook authors as you are in what you accept from any other source.