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Don't worry about 'rewriting history': it's literally what we historians do | Charlotte Lydia Riley | The Guardian

theguardian.com · 1,114 words · saved by 1 readers

People have always reinterpreted and re-evaluated the past. Every time a statue comes down, we learn a little more P eople are suddenly very concerned about the perils of rewriting history. We must be vigilant, apparently, to the possibility that great swaths of the past will be forgotten or, worse, “erased”. We must remain alert to the risk that our history will be “whitewashed” – as if there were enough whitewash in the world – with the difficult, complex bits disappeared. Meanwhile, unaware of all the controversy he has caused, Edward Colston’s statue lies peacefully at the bottom of Bristol harbour. Historians are not too worried at the threat posed by “rewriting history”. This is because rewriting history is our occupation, our professional endeavour. We are constantly engaged in a process of re-evaluating the past and reinterpreting stories that we thought we knew. Despite what Leopold von Ranke – one of the pioneers of modern historical research – said, history is not only about

The former site of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The former site of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian Opinion Race This article is more than 6 years old Don't worry about 'rewriting history': it's literally what we historians do This article is more than 6 years old Charlotte Lydia Riley People have always reinterpreted and re-evaluated the past. Every time a statue comes down, we learn a little more Wed 10 Jun 2020 12.55 EDT Last modified on Fri 12 Jun 2020 07.13 EDT Share P

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