Wow! Very well put, John. Applause.
Now, now, not all historians are like that . . . histoire provides our language with both history and story, and means either in French, depending upon the context. It is possible to tell a good story, and leave out all of the qualifications. This can attract those for whom history has always been a confusing bore. Or, the historian can so qualify her narrative as to avoid every pitfall of controversy--and produce something which is impossible to read with the sedative effect of a half grain of morphine. In respect of method, historians began to get their act together when, in the guise of lawyers, they began to cite precedence in jurisprudence. In the 19th century, in England and America, people like McCauley, Prescott, Carlyle and Parkman all published after detailed research of primary sources, copiously annotated--and still produced very readable works. And they showed the way to methodology more stringent than was often applied to scientific investigation in their day. If they are not to modern tatstes, the point can still be made that it is possible to make history a good read--and desirable. Barbara Tuchmann has demonstrated that in the 20th century. The sour grapes type of criticisms of narrow specialists like Hobshawm (who will explain everything from social and economic statistics, deny he's interpreting, and damn all other interpretations) shouldn't be lent much credence--she wrote history acceptable by acadmic standards, and made good money doing it because her books are entertaining and compelling--she didn't win a Pulitzer because she was a self-deluded yokel.
It is also possible to write entertaining history which takes notice of the unknowable, and to show the reader your method without boring. If one writes from the assumption that one's reader has the good sense to make the kind of judgments about the contents of history which we reasonably expect to be made in reading the daily newspaper, then one can be assured that they'll get a fair hearing, and a good opportunity to pass along some useful understanding.
Setanta, my dear friend. As usual, you make a beautiful case. As much as I adore Carl Sandburg's poetic version of Lincoln, we must both admit, it was more poetry than fact. Not that I mind, you understand.
It's the fact that you know that, which matters. Parkman writes very well, and is, to this day, the authority in the English language on the history of the French in North America. All that has come since has been the revelation of information which was not available to him, and none of it has served to invalidate his interpretation. He most often gets criticized by military historians, who are a bickering and gnomish lot.
Setanta ========== you are a clever bloke and obviously know your stuff and have the ability to recount information in an easily read format and that thus encourages interest.
when you write a long piece such as you did earlier, do you have to sit there, plot it out and then write it or is it all written off the top of your head ?
You see, except for a few salient dates, I know sweet bugger all about history. 1066 and all that might of been 6 minutes past 11, the battle of trafalgar 6-15pm and WW2 @ 7-39 just after dinner and before the washing up.
There is so much history, I don't know how people keep up with it.
Obviously a good memory helps. My grandfather, whether knowingly or simply serendipitously, encouraged that memory. He taught me to read in the summer before my fourth birthday. Obviously, my skills were not great. Sitting in the railway depot at which he was Station Master and Telegrapher, i saw an article about a U-Boat. I knew the word boat, because we'd done my reading education by virtue of Wind in the Willows--you know, messing about in boats? So i asked my grandfather, who responded that he did not know what U-boat meant (technically true, as he knew it was a submarine but not why it was named "U"-boat), but would find out. About three or four days later, when i was again at the depot, he sat me down and chatted with me about the magazine until he was sure i recalled the incident and the question. He then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and informed me that the "U" in U-boat meant untersee, or "under sea" boat. I've remembered that vividly since 1954. The Irish also come by good memories honestly--they achieved a high degree of cultural and artistic sophistication in an illiterate society, and a high value was placed upon the memorization of long tracts of poetry, by which each master or mistress of a trade kept track of the secrets of that trade.
As for my writing--i write as i speak. I am as capable of speaking this sentence to you as i am of writing it. Having posted this passage, i always reserve the right to come back to correct spelling errors.
(In fact, i just saw one as soon as i hit "submit.")
Another history mystery:
Did Bruno Hauptman really kidnap the Lindberg baby?
http://wv.essortment.com/thelindberghki_rjqo.htm
Letty: Please excuse me for posting this info here, but I believe somewhere on this most interesting thread that there is mention of "Song of India". I believe Gautam is looking for the lyrics and that you posted some, but the way for you both to be sure is to obtain a copy of the movie, The Song of Scheherezade (1947), starring Yvonne DeCarlo and Jean-Pierre Aumont. The music was adapted from Rimsky-Korsakov for the movie by Miklos Rozsa. The Song of India was performed in the movie by opera tenor, Charles Kullman. The lyrics are by Jack Brooks ( I believe he's the same guy that collaborated with Hoagy Carmichael on Ole Buttermilk Sky - that's a switcheroo, isn't it? ) Anyway, a friend of mine had a 78rpm recording of Song of India from that movie, but unfortunately the record is long gone - as are the lyrics from our worn out brain cells. To the best of my knowledge, that was the only recording available. Ironically, The Song of Scheherazade was on American Movie Classics TV in the wee hours of the morning several months ago.
Good luck in obtaining the movie.
Raggedy, there are many people whom I have known in the real world, the class room, the entertainment business, cyber space...it is a pleasure to know you from wherever you come. Thank you for all this information. I am still stunned by the things that you have located; the source of Gloomy Sunday..and now the words to song of India....Hoagy Carmichael..Buttermilk Sky?...How could the same man who wrote that have written Skylark.? Thank you, Raggedy. You make the world a better place in which to live.
End of message.
Letty: Thank you for the lovely compliment.
But, I'm just a city gal who had the movie theater as her baby sitter while her Mom worked, and grew up at a time when records were a treasure. (Hoagy sang Ole Buttermilk Sky in the movie Canyon Passage in 1946 and it was nominated for an Oscar (Brooks wrote the lyrics), but lost to The Atchison, Topeka and the Sante Fe)
But, the mystery hasn't been solved yet. Gautam still has to find the movie, The Song of Scherezade, before he finds the lyrics he's searching for. I will keep a close watch for that movie on Turner Classic Movies and AMC.
Oh, my gorsh, Raggedy. I went to the movies every time they changed the features.
and those I didn't care to see, my sister dragged me to since she was responsible for much of my well being. I'll keep an eye out for that movie, also. I have never seen it.
Thanks Raggedy for that fab info - I will definately keep a look out.....
I might be travelling to Moscow/St. Petersburg in August first week - there are several second hand shops selling old classics - hmmmm...looks like some hunting is on the cards...
Gautam, You had better let me know if find all those words.
Letty, I promise you, you will be the first person to know - and if I find it in print, I will ensure that you get the original (as a gift from me)
Update. I just found this thread on Google.
Recent history mysteries:
What happened to BobSmith and Joe Nation?
A condominium developer wants to build on a site historians believe may hold the graves of 67 shipwreck victims from the 1800's. The ship, City of Vera Cruz, sank 30 miles north-northeast of Cape Canaveral in 1800.
Unfortunately, the account of Judge Crater's disappearance above is almost totally inaccurate. The Judge did NOT disappear while crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, did not disappear in the 1920s, was a well-known "ladies' man" (although he may have been happily married as well!), and had close ties to Tammany Hall, which could provide anyone enough enemies for several lifetimes.
On August 6, 1930, the Judge left a restaurant where he had dined with friends, indicating he was going to attend a Broadway show - The Dancing Partner - that evening. He got into a cab and was never seen again. He had cleared most of the important papers out of his office earlier that day, emptied his office safe and bank safe deposit box and cashed a check for a "large sum of money". The weight of the evidence - from a 70-plus-year distance - suggests that the Judge wanted to vanish.
Hi, Powel, Thanks for the update, and welcome to A2K. Hmmm. Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. Surprised that Nast didn't go the same route.
who erected the statues of Easter Island and what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa?
Hey, BW...It has been suggested that the statues were "walked" to where they stand now. and as to Jimmy Hoffa, He's probably living somewhere in Miami.
I heard it though through the grape vine that Jimmy Hoffa is buried under the 50 yard line at Giant's stadium in the Meadow lands.
The history of the Alamo is heating up here in Tejas with two new books being published by respected historians and a new movie is about to be released.
It seems that the Walt Disney version about Davy Crockett and followers is not accurate.
Because my new old computer is slow and I am on dial up I could not get a URL for you, it was taking way to long, but if you do a search on Google - Dallas Morning News you will see the links to the column for today and columns from the past few weeks about the controversy.
