A Calendar of Human History

When looking into the past, the great historian Howard Zinn said, “We never get ‘just the facts.’” We often get glaring omissions and distortions. History is always a selection from an infinite number of facts. And what is selected is based not just on one’s personal interest but on race, class, gender, and other factors. A true picture of the past is rarely achieved, and never by presenting “just the facts.” Historians need the eyes of thousands of people, the ears of poets, a nose for secrets, the hands of a master painter. And by reversing traditional lenses and viewing history through the eyes of the ignored and dispossessed, we gain a radical new perspective. The best historians draw from a rich mosaic of past events, breathe life into them and make them meaningful and useful to the present.