Holes in the Heart of History
guest post by David Niall Wilson
Anyone familiar with my work (and
I say this with a smile, because I'm aware that's not as large a group as it
ought to be) knows that I love history.
I also have opinions about it, which I've written about before. I doubt very sincerely that very much of what
we know of the events of our past is accurate.
We have history books. We have
journalistic accounts. We have diaries
and biographies and even stories passed through families from generation to
generation, but all of them are colored by society, prejudice, and simple
error. None of that is what matters.
What matters is that we keep that past alive – that we don't let our history
escape us.
I live in a state with one of the
longer domestic histories, North Carolina. When British governors ruled the day, Quakers
inhabited this area; plantations grew where forests and fields had stood. In other words, Americans put down
roots. Thankfully, those roots are deep
here. There are homes dating back to the
1600s. There are families who have lived
here – literally –for centuries. A lot
of the history has been preserved, and there is more out there to be
unearthed. We regularly haunt estate
auctions, thrift stores, anywhere something might turn up that has a secret.
Anyone familiar with my work (and
I say this with a smile, because I'm aware that's not as large a group as it
ought to be) knows that I love history.
I also have opinions about it, which I've written about before. I doubt very sincerely that very much of what
we know of the events of our past is accurate.
We have history books. We have
journalistic accounts. We have diaries
and biographies and even stories passed through families from generation to
generation, but all of them are colored by society, prejudice, and simple
error. None of that is what matters.
What matters is that we keep that past alive – that we don't let our history
escape us.