A required reading for a school course. An interesting little book that, in summary, is basically about a) our relationship with the past and b) the relationship between the past and the present. The main points the author wants to make clear are, firstly, that the past is always essentially tied to the present and doesnât actually even exist without it; secondly, that we can never be certain if the past, or rather, events that took place in the past, actually existed as we think they did or we think we know they did, because essentially history and the past is all about interpreting the sources, and interpretations are always interpretations â however, there are methods that we can use to be as sure as possible that what we think about the past is true, but we can never be absolutely certain, because the past is not here anymore, and never will be; thirdly, that when interpreting the past, we have various more or less implicit filters that are in use and that are simply impossible ever to turn off, because we as human beings, our culture and our language are so inherently a construction of and tied to the past and our surroundings (which, of course, are created by the past), that an absolutely neutral observer of the past does not and can never exist. What we can do, however, is to become conscious about these filters that are in action, and thus do our best to avoid the bias they have the potential of creating, or even use them in our advantage; and fourthly, to acknowledge that the goal of the historian is precisely in the Great Objective Absolute Truth, but while trying to reach it, he or she has to understand, that it can NEVER be reached. But if oneâs focus is directed at there, the results are more likely to be worth something and closer to the truth, whatever that truly cryptic word may signify.
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