I had access to books, and I could read... but that more foundational, basic historical awareness, I didn't have any of that.
History, well taught, is the demythologising of the past... Take any important issue of our time - Northern Ireland, Nuclear Disarmament, Race, The Welfare State, South Africa - and it becomes impossible to seriously confront any of them without understanding their historical background.
I read a lot of archaeology and early history in a general way, not thinking particularly of this book, and this provided me with the background. It showed me how, possibly, the people lived back then.
Put an underdog on top and it makes no difference whether his name is Russian, Jewish, Negro, Management, Labor, Mormon, or Baptist he goes haywire. I've found very, very few who remember their past condition when prosperity comes.
If you forget your roots, you've lost sight of everything
It's very important to always put things in their historical contexts. It teaches important lessons about the country in question.
But stories don't only speak; they are spoken to, by the circumstances under which they are written.
I think the difference between America and Australia is very simple. It's 20 million people versus 350 million.
"Study Bible" is the expression used for Bibles that include significant explanatory notes, usually at the bottom of the page, sometimes in the margins. Often a Study Bible will also include some brief articles, photographs of geographical and archaeological sites, fairly extensive maps, and charts that summarize a lot of information.
Can't disagree with the need for a grasp of history.
Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.
All the past up to a moment ago is your legacy. You have a right to it.
People often of masterful intelligence, trained usually in law or economics or perhaps in political science, who have led their governments into disastrous decisions and miscalculations because they have no awareness whatever of the historical background, the cultural universe, of the foreign societies with which they have to deal.
Furthermore, the study of the present surroundings is insufficient: the history of the people, the influence of the regions through which it has passed on its migrations, and the people with whom it came into contact, must be considered.
Well, everybody has a history.
Shetland's influences are far more Scandinavian than Celtic.
Pictures that will live on for years, like 'The Birth of a Nation' and 'Gone With the Wind,' had great historical events in the background.
There's nothing that you like in this world that wasn't influenced by a bunch of key things; nothing came completely clean out of a vacuum.
It must inquire not merely about the circumstances of the time in general, but in particular about the writer's position with regard to these things, the interests and motives, the leading ideas of his literary activity.
Terrorism cannot be isolated from its political, historical, and even social context.
You have to understand that Singapore is quite different from Mauritius.
I come from a community that has a lot of white kids, and I notice how, a lot of times, they don't understand our differences and how I come from a different culture and my ancestors are different and my history is different.
Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life.
I like going back in time and writing historical fantasy. I use some real historical characters as a background to give depth to the fantasy. And I throw my fictional characters into the midst of this, and, so far, it has turned out interesting.
Even the favorite reviews, the audience response is the movie is too slow, deliberately slow. But for the Chinese audience, the biggest complaint is it happens too quick. I think the historical background that build into our genes is different. American people has never been occupied. The deep sadness and sentimentality, the cultural background that relates to melodrama that we relate to and grow up with, the propaganda, I didn't imagine the difference is so big. It's a very interesting cultural phenomenon.
