John Gaddis 'The Family: A World History'

According John Gaddis in “The Landscape of History” he explores the question of “What do historians do?”, along with the various ways in which they conduct their research to ultimately document history. In comparison to Mary Jo Maynes and Ann Waltner’s book “The Family: A World History” they approach history from the perspective of the family. Maynes and Waltner explore the history of the family and its influence on religion and politics. Though both books explore contrasting arguments, we can look at the various ways in which history is documented and the different perspectives in which history can be observed. The main question Gaddis explores in his book, is what do historians do. Gaddis answers this question by stating that historians represent the past. Since the topic of history is a broad one, Gaddis compares representing history to that of a landscape, this is noted when he states, “For if you think of the past as a landscape, then history is the way we represent it, and it’s that act of representation that lifts us above the familiar to let us experience vicariously what we can’t experience directly: a wider view.” (Gaddis …show more content…
Writing history from the perspective of the family shows the developments of history and how much it has changed and how it changes amongst different cultures and places. The structure of the family also had the power to compromise explorers wanting to conquer new land, Maynes and Waltner view this from Christopher Columbus’, stating, “As far as I have learned, in all these islands, as I understand, every man is satisfied with one way, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have 20. The women appear to work more than the men.” (Maynes, Waltner 51). Considering this, most explorers would either adopt the customs of that country, or change it, which ultimately changes the dynamics of the family in that