HIS-2525 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Friedrich Nietzsche, George Orwell, William Faulkner
Document Summary
History focuses on periods that show change over time. Different countries and regions have different ideas/views because of their history. It was thought that if you knew enough facts, you knew how the past really was. Now it is known that it is truly impossible to tell how the past really was. This is how the human brain works. Everything must be organized in a category the same is with history. Infinite things happened in the past and the mass majority is never known. Historians must be selective and pick out the facts that they feel like matter due to this. Any form of active learning is better than a lecture because it will stick. If you can tell a story you will do well in history. Certain parts of your past stick with you. Everything that made america, america happened on the frontier. Tendency to believe in things that confirm what they already thought.