occurred within these cultures. We study the past to acquire a broader and richer understanding of our world today and our place in it. Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeology talks about human history and culture that has contributed greatly to our understanding of both the ancient and the recent past. Studying early human society allows humanity to look at its own reflection. We can embrace the reflection good and bad and be stronger…
shield, I was a ferocious Spartan soldier. As you can see, the topic of world history intrigued me a lot. However, this enthusiasm of mine did not come from the indefinite timeline of history; it came from how people in the past were capable of making architecture that continues to leave the modern-day world astonished and inspired. This appreciation of history sparked a fire inside of me. As a result, taking AP World history during the sophomore year of high school stimulated my passion for…
Historical context has greatly enhanced my understanding and meaning of stories that I read not only in English class but in but outside of the classroom. When I read a story with historical context I find that analyzing the story can give me a fuller understanding of the story and can help me see the reasoning behind the people behaving as they did. Seeing what motivated people to act the way they did back then can provide the reader with so much more valuable information than they would have…
Historians have always found the fine line between narrative as myth or history problematic, an issue that Herodotus, one of the great ancient Greek historians, attempts to deal with by rationalizing myth, so as to still incorporate it into his accounts, and actively distinguishing myth from history. Rationalization boils myth down into its most fundamental components, supporting the argument that myth is simply history spun out of proportion or misremembered by exposing myth’s basis in real…
1. In A People’s History of the United States chapters 1-8 by Howard Zinn. He writes about historic key points in which some history recollections doesn’t truly paint the truth of what happened, why it happened, and how we look at it now with newer, more open minded hindsight. Some of the most important points that Zinn brings to light in his book is that history is never truly written until after the fact and that fact is, history is written by those who deem it fit. With a vision that can at…
Before Binford made his argument that archaeology was holding a backseat in anthropology, and needed to make a necessary transition towards a systematic view of culture, archaeology used a direct historical approach. By studying modern native cultures one could start at the top of each archaeological layer and work down (working the way back in time). Sir Edward B. Tylor represented cultural evolutionism in archaeology. He believed that there was a purpose in the development of society and…
Saving Private Ryan: Negative Argument Historical films matter, because for a lot of people, such films are where they get much of their knowledge of history from. After 300 came out, I noticed an increase in the number of my students who thought that Thermopylae was the reason the Persians lost that war, and Braveheart has certainly given people the idea that medieval Scots wore great kilts, when in reality the Scottish kilt is a late 16th century development. Small historical inaccuracies…
Not only did AP Art History solidify my passion for the study of history through the lens of art, it has positively influenced my own artwork. History has become my foremost artistic muse. The class discussions were one of my favorite aspects of the class. These classroom exchanges not only energized me and motivated me to further explore the different perspectives discussed through additional outside study, but, with the teacher’s encouragement and support, pushed me to voice my thoughts and…
The assigned book for this course is entitled “We the People: A Brief American History,” by Peter N. Carroll. In his book, Carroll gives a voice to women, minorities, and ordinary people, while allowing place for comparisons among different groups by unfolding problems and subject matter that affected each of them relative to U.S. history (Carroll XXI). The assignment for this week was to read chapters 1and 2. This paper will summarize some of what the author discussed in great detail in…
The writer Howard Zinn recited this phrase "history is the memory of the states" in a reading called “A People’s History of the United States”. In my own opinion, this is related to the fact of production of historical knowledge and preservation which is an aspect of state power in a similar way to the following sentence that says "winners write history books" where states who have more power determine what story they want the world to know. An example that represents this is the movie "Damiana"…