This still has its name- Glendale Ca.
Posted on 10/11/2021 5:20:05 PM PDT by Rummyfan
he first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster. — Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. — George Orwell, 1984
There are misconceptions, some of them benevolent, some malignant, some neutral, that, repeated, persist for a very long time in spite of their not being true. One such misconception is that Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage to dispel the popular view of his time that the world was flat. In reality, that idea was an urban legend that originated in the mid-1800s. No one, as far back as the Ancient Greeks, really thought that the earth was flat.
But there are other misconceptions about Columbus that are extremely malignant. In recent decades, Christopher Columbus has been demonized. He has been called a war criminal, a thief, a rapist, a bumbling fool, and someone who carried out genocide. These accusations have supposedly been the basis for the recent vandalism and destruction of statues in America of Christopher Columbus in the cities of Richmond, St. Paul, Baltimore, Miami, Wilmington, San Antonio, Sacramento, St. Louis, Detroit, Trenton, Buffalo, Boston, and Providence (in Providence, the vandalism was done by a middle school teacher).
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
This evening I have been searching for a definitive, honest biography of the man. Attendant to that search has been this nagging question: How does one locate the best history books and biographies? It is not as easy as it sounds.
Great article that should be read in full and shared all over social media. While some will dismiss it, at least the truth will go out to some.
My rule of thumb is any scholarship done Postwar is suspect.
Columbus’s crime is that he was white. Case closed...guilty as charged.
We keep hearing about this onslaught against American history on part of progressives, yet the lack of conservative interest in being a citizen historian means very few are rising to meet the challenge.
People just seem to want to engage in the political process and nothing more.
As to where to locate a good book about Christopher Columbus,(it was asked) I don’t have a direct answer in the sense that I know definitively “this is the book to read” because I’ll be honest, I have not read it. However I think it would probably be safe to start with Washington Irving’s 1828 book about Columbus. Free to read here:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Life_and_Voyages_of_Chr/V0i3w-c9__cC?gbpv=1
It is remarkable in its own right that our country saw fit to establish a national holiday in honor of an explorer who never set foot in our land. No other explorer I know of enjoys a national holiday in the USA.
This ought to stir up some curiosity. Who was this guy? Honestly, what did he do that so motivated our forbears to establish this holiday?
The extent of my instruction as a youth is that Columbus “discovered America” and “proved that the earth is not flat.”
What a sad commentary on public education, and I have occupied this sphere for over six decades!
bump
I agree. The article is long but very worth reading.
Thank you! Ernle Bradford and Edard Everett Hale appear to have substantial works available as well.
One thing I find frustrating with history works written in the 19th and early 20th centuries (and earlier) is a woodenness, coupled with complicated compound sentences, that leave the cerebral mechanism gasping for simplicity.
I work with the biblical texts and their various translations as a part time profession. Thucydides, the ancient Greek historian, could use the equivalent of a “Living Bible” translation as a way to invite the reader into his world. I reckon that won’t happen any time soon.
And Christian.
Philly tried to change a road’s name from Delaware Avenue to Columbus Boulevard. The local “Delaware Indians” protested being usurped by a white guy.
They did not know they were named after famed indian fighter Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, another white guy.
bkmk
I have always treasured printed books. I own many, they are treasure. Today’s online information is more inaccurate than any Hollywood movie.
I thought about donating or purging books as we are scaling down, but having second thoughts. I think I will throw out other things and keep my books.
You can purchase out of print and used books through thriftbooks.com. Just bought Orwells Animal Farm and 1984 To read again. Also Sun Zu…. For my husband as well as Bible as History and a history of the Etruscans - both Werner Keller.
I buy children’s books for the grands at half to quarter price of new. Build up your library. My grandkids love their library….three shelf bookcase of their books.
I remember science fiction years ago would imagine a world where the printed word was held in reverence for rebuilding after a post apocalyptic event.
Are we there yet?
Spain sent Columbus west to open trade routes to the East. After the fall of Constantinople the Ottomans blocked the Silk Road. For the same reason Portugal sent Vasco de Gama south around the Cape of Good Hope to India.
According to what a leftist told me : CC is being blamed or confused or conflated with the later Spanish treasure hunters like Cortez DeSoto et al.
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