Monday, November 09, 2009

what i'm reading now



In grade school we all learn that George Washington cut down a cherry tree. Then when as adults we begin to read history on our own we find that the cherry tree incident was just a legend. Richard Shenkman's book, Legend, Lies, & Cherished Myths of American History is full of information that everyone knows but just isn't true. Some of the actual facts from the back cover:

  • The story that Columbus discovered that the world was round was invented by Washington Irving.
  • The Pilgrims never lived in log cabins.
  • In Concord, Massachusetts, a third of all babies born in the twenty years before the Revolution were conceived out of wedlock.
  • Independence wasn't declared on July 4 (and the Liberty Bell was so little regarded that Philadelphia tried to sell it for scrap metal but nobody wanted it.)
  • There's no evidence that anyone died in a frontier shootout at high noon.
  • After World War II the U.S. Government concluded that Japan would have surrendered within months, even if we had not bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whew...for a minute there I was afraid you would post something about Santa, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy.... - sd

Nance said...

The mind reels! What's our evidence that anyone died in a frontier shootout at 11:55 a.m.? What's the rate of bastardy today...if anyone dares keep that data in a discoverable location? What sort of dwelling did the pilgrims favor? I'm more inclined to try to find these answers on-line than to buy the book, but I'm sure glad you posted on it; as a senior, I had nearly concluded that I can raise more questions between now and the end than I can possibly get answers to...and now I'm sure of it.

dawn said...

Luckily, I knew about the Pilgrims since I grew up near Plymouth rock (thatch roofs, dirt/clay walls with wood frame for your info. Nance).
What I want to know is when is the real Independence day?

Unknown said...

The value of this book, for me, was that we often think of former eras as the "good old days". Thing were better way back when. Actually they weren't. And we need to know that.

Envoy-ette said...

I'm so reluctant to trust anything anymore when it comes to re-writing history. I don't trust the people NOW writing it.

Mage said...

Ah, our cherished stories....you leave me laughing.

Unknown said...

Dawn, according to the book July 2 was the day we actually declared our independence.

Lorna said...

the last fact leaves me sorrowful.