Rewriting History and the Republican Presidential Campaign

When I teach history (or heck, when I think about it), I tend to (try to) see the relevance in today’s world. Apparently, other folks do this as well. Each quarter, when I ask students why they decided to take a history course, a majority of them say something about history being “useful” in explaining the world. There have been many times when I’m staggered by the insightful connections they make in class. Presidential candidates attempt this all the time. Too bad for all of us, they usually do so very poorly. And not unoften (that one’s for you, Grant), the stakes can hardly be higher.