Comments on: Our Continuing Narrative of a Past that Never Existed http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/our-continuing-narrative-of-a-past-that-never-existed/ A Journal of the Digitization of a Civil War Battle Tue, 14 May 2013 19:21:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Harry Smeltzer http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/our-continuing-narrative-of-a-past-that-never-existed/#comment-54 Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:45:24 +0000 http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/our-continuing-narrative-of-a-past-that-never-existed/#comment-54 Dave,
I think I have finally made it to the point where I don’t roll my eyes whenever I hear that “the victors write the history” drivel when applied to the ACW. At least, I hope I don’t roll my eyes anymore.

Come to think of it, considering how Resonstruction played out maybe the victors DID write the history of the Civil War.

]]> By: Dave Powell http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/our-continuing-narrative-of-a-past-that-never-existed/#comment-53 Tue, 21 Nov 2006 01:23:29 +0000 http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/our-continuing-narrative-of-a-past-that-never-existed/#comment-53 Dude, You’re like, so deep…

A nice passage, actually. But I might go deeper, and suggest that EVERYONE reinvents the past. History, to a certain extent, is about reinventing the past – or at least re-interpreting it.

One of the things that drives me crazy is the suggestion that “winners write the history.” That little homily is so wrong, in so many different circumstances, that it drives me nuts every time I hear it. While this might apply in to the era for which it was coined – the classical – it is massively wide of the mark in the modern era. In fact, more often than not, the loser writes the history, because he has the bigger axe to grind. The winner, when he realizes what is going on, usually plays catch-up and ends up falling short.

But that is why history is fun…

Dave Powell

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