Inside the stories that made our history
The history we think we know is shaped as much by fiction — and often, outright lies — as it is by textbooks
19 May 2022 - 05:00
Any student of history understands that subjectivity is inbuilt.
Author and literary editor Richard Cohen crystallises this elegantly in the introduction to his new book, Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past: “Objectivity is a fine concept. But when, in 2011, I asked the 92-year-old Eric Hobsbawm whether it was possible to be objective as a historian he laughed. ‘Of course not,’ he replied. ‘But I tried to obey the rules.’” ..
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