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355. The misuses of history

By Joel Jacobsen

"Historians have long winced at the crude ways that literary scholars and others have wrenched writings out of their historical contexts for aesthetic and other present-minded purposes."  That's from Gordon S. Wood's collection of book reviews (or, really, essays using book reviews as take-off points), The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History, which is far more entertaining than any description can make it sound.  It was an unlikely candidate for the books-on-tape treatment but I'm grateful the publishers made an exception for it, because it made the weekend drive to Jemez Springs most enjoyable.In another essay, analyzing a self-described political theorist's tendentious use of history to score political points, Wood writes: "There is nothing wrong with this ransacking of the past by political theorists...continue to full post

Full post as published by Judging Crimes on July 02, 2008 (boomark / email).