Sunday, November 1, 2009

Getting History Wrong

I have just read the strangest book review--of John Keegan's book on the US Civil War.  James M. McPherson desperately tries to write a positive review, but Keegan apparently gets many facts absolutely and objectively wrong.  It is one thing to disagree about an interpretation, but for a work of history to get more than a few pivotal facts wrong is, well, inexcusable.  Political scientists can deal with "stylized facts" where they assert things may have happened in a certain way to convince the reader of the more general dynamics at work, but historians are supposed to get the story right. 

So, this will not be a book I read myself.

2 comments:

Phil said...

Wow. Keegan gets his facts wrong yet again. Is anyone surprised by this? What's truly shocking is that JM calls him a leading military historian...

Steve Greene said...

Fascinating that he could be so wrong and not have anybody make sure he knew what he was talking about. A shame, as I think I would've enjoyed reading this. Makes me wonder what I mis-learned about WWII from him.