Moreover, at the first article, Howard Zinn says, “very few writers have dared to question the purity of the ‘good war.’’ ’ I think all of these stories want to show us that the Second World War for the United States was not just simply a “good war” although it was one of the most famous wars in the world and the United Sates won the fight at the end of the war. However, there were too many misunderstandings about it, and the war caused too many casualties. Although many people supported the Second World War in order to overthrow the Nazism, Fascism, and Japanese, there were still many victims who opposed the war and doubt about the Second World
It is almost universally understood that the winners of war often write history. With this concept comes the acceptance that history can and is construed in a way that benefits the winner and can hide the truth. In George Robert Elford’s book, Devil’s Guard, Elford accounts for the perspective of a former Waffen SS officer who joined the French Foreign Legion upon the conclusion of World War 2. Throughout this story, many obstacles, adventures, and morals are explored that communicate various perceptions on what war (particularly the war in Vietnam during the French occupation) was like. The book conveys various arguments such as the exploration of unconventional warfare and the struggle of decisive action when the chain of command has
Autopsy of War reveals the author’s personal experience during the American War in Vietnam in 1967-1968, and how this experience impacted his entire life after. The book was published in 2012 by Thomas Dunne Books. Besides from Autopsy of War, John A. Parrish is also known for his other publications such as A Doctor’s Year in Vietnam, Playing around: The million Dollar Infield Goes to Florida, Between You and Me: A Sensible and Authoritative, and Guide to the Care and Treatment of Your Skin. John A. Parrish is a physician who spent almost 35 years working on researches in lasers, photobiology, and cutaneous biology. Born in a Baptist family, Parrish followed the unwritten curriculum of behavior imposed by rigors of religion, a good boy who
It is sometimes difficult for individuals to settle the discrepancy between truth and illusion, and consequently they drive others away, by shutting down. Mrs. Ross, in The Wars by Timothy Findley, is seen as brittle while she is attending church, and cannot deal with the cruel reality of the war and therefore segregates herself from the truth by blacking it out. As a result, she loses her eyesight, and never gets to solve the clash between her awareness of reality and the actuality of the world. She hides behind a veil, and her glasses to distance herself from reality. Mrs. Davenport has to wheel her around in Rowena’s chair to keep her awake, so she doesn’t harbour up subconscious feeling within her dreams, which she is unable to deal with.
The American War in Afghanistan, is not the first time in history that a forceing country has invaded a country in hope of change and peace. There is a sense of high demand behind Into the Land of Bones, in which Frank Holt describes the campaigns of Alexander the Great in Bactria . To understand this demand, it is relevant to note that the author is American. The United States is currently fighting a war in Afghanistan and Holt wants to explain that, although the troops are fighting with "skill, dedication, honor, or heroism", they "simply do not have history on their side" (page xii). The army and war style reflects this axiom.
In Lies My Teacher Told Me, written by James Loewen, the author addresses his concerns about how history is taught in American schools. He presents many arguments as to why some information found in textbooks is not accurate as well as how it hurts students in the long run. Loewen also states that these textbooks participate in the sugar coating of gruesome details and try to paint awful people in a heroic light. The twisting of history often leads to either having to relearn real history or the mistrust of all history. Both are lousy outcomes of what the fake history courses could do.
Zinn admits to having bias in his book; he claims that regular history books lean heavily in the direction of the governments and resisting unruly rebels. He justifies his bias by saying that since so many books support actions of the government, we need some “counterforce to avoid being crushed into submission.” By his thought, his bias is justified because it provides some balance to other history books that lean the opposite way. Zinn argues that “the idea of saviors has been built into the entire culture, beyond politics.”
History does not always convey the absolute truth. It offers only one side of the story. The strong and powerful voices always drown out the sounds of the weak and beaten. The winner’s word will always be taken over the loser’s. The content that lies within the textbooks was not written by the defeated.
This war was greater for the American society than it was for their soldiers. While many of the soldiers lost their mind, American saw great economic growth and overcame the Great Depression. Finally, in the last chapter, Adams talks about the knowledge of postwar history. Although evil groups, such as Nazism, had been overcome, many problems remained in the home front that and some still exist
Therefore, this idea of nationalism connects to the academic and social chances students get from reading Black Hawk Down. As James Matray states in the Journal of American history, “Black Hawk Down,” “Bush undoubtedly hoped that American voters would remember not only the disastrous results of ‘nation-building’ efforts in Vietnam but more recently those in Somalia.” (Matray). This statement was to inform about hopes with nationalism in America. Nationalism connects all ideas for Mark Bowden to teach future adults of
“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” - George McGovern. There are numerous controversial topics dispersed among the subject of American history due to the amount of unethical decisions that have been made in order to improve the lives of the people or keep America out of the clutches of war. Throughout American history, historians have debated the ethical impact that the Vietnam war had on the United States. Although some people may believe that the Vietnam War achieved the goal of avoiding communism and protecting the people, the overarching idea is that it was an unjust war because of the countless lives that were lost from the participating countries, the
Wars have been fought for centuries for hundreds of different reasons, but one of the most common justifications for war is freedom from an oppressive force. Wars are commonly fought on the grounds of freedom and human liberties, such as in the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II, and while these wars were certainly justified to protect human rights, they often were fought in a way that actually restricted the freedom of those fighting in them. In Catch-22, Joseph Heller writes about a group of pilots stationed near Italy in the 1940s who struggle to survive and escape the terrible reality of war, fighting to free themselves and rediscover their individual liberty. The dramatic irony throughout the novel emphasizes the irony
One of the biggest problems in A Long Way Gone is war. Ishmael Beah is trying to show us the multiple issues that war can cause. Ishmael clearly shows how traumatizing a war can be to anyone. The biggest effects of the war are shown through the loss of kind and basic human interaction, the death and fighting that is happening, and the mental health issues of people who have been touched by the war.
Historical thinking is the nature of human thoughts that normally doesn’t come naturally to us. We as everyday people, rather than historians, must grasp the knowledge of how to come to a greater understanding of what history is and how it genuinely affects our everyday lives. My understanding of history, is that it’s the knowledge and the circumstances of the past, present, and future that either has changed the historian’s perspectives of the world, or how those key experiences will guide the hands and minds of historians to establish a successful path for the future by avoiding the same miscalculations that people made in the past. There is some controversy among historians, who accredit that the only way to understand history is to “reduce it to its lowest terms” or with the “active participation of the historian.” While I believe these two concepts help us to understand history, however, I don’t believe that they are the only possibility for understanding the past.
What impact does globalization have on identity? Should we try to minimize globalization’s impact on identity, embrace it, or a mixture of both? Globalization can necessarily be a great part of the world if we use it to its highest potential. It could also be detrimental to the community we stand for, furthermore, worldwide. We live in a world where we are driven by time, are we going let it control us is the question.
