09.14.05
Update - Crisis of Faith
Late last night, I sat down at my little tv tray table in my room and got my book and notebook out and tried again with Jordanova. I am happy to say that I got much more out of it this time, including some wonderful quotes about the study of history being chaotic and often overwhelming to those whose passion is history.
You see, history is not concrete or discrete like science or math. Doing history is a constant dialogue; between the past and the present as we wend our way through available materials trying to put the puzzle together. Historical archives and documents were rarely written with history in mind and are, therefore, not very organized or in places where we would expect to find them. Some were burned, thrown out and otherwise disposed of because at the time no one thought they were important enough to keep. Finding, and defining, material to help tell the ‘true’ story of history is difficult. So, doing history is messy and chaotic, even in the best of circumstances. Even for the professionals. What a relief to know that even those who have been studying history for long periods of time still get it wrong (because with history one can never really get it completely right) and still feel overwhelmed. I think I’m in good company!