Margaret MacMillan is such a good writer that she makes the study
of history nothing but a pleasure. She did this in her best-selling
books “Nixon in China” and “Paris l9l9” which won prizes here and
abroad. In this new book she updates the Joanne Goodman Lecture Series
of the University of Western Ontario.
She regrets that just as history is becoming more important in our
public discussions, professional historians are abandoning the field to
amateurs. Political leaders too often get away with misusing or
abusing history for their own ends because the rest of us do not know
enough to challenge them. Surely this happened in Iraq….How many
people in the West know the history of what was once Persia? Or for
that matter the complications of Afghanistan?
She admits that history can be well taught, or badly. In China,
the Party keeps a close eye on the schools to make sure the lesson is
conveyed that history chose the Communist Party to lead China into its
present happy state. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington planned
an exhibit including the bombing of Hiroshima, but in the end had to
cancel. In Ottawa we know what happened at the War Museum over
another instance of illustrating bombing in Europe..
MacMillan admits the difficulties, but pleads for a better use of
history, first to understand those with whom we have to deal, and
second, equally important, ourselves.
She herself has had a long distinguished career in teaching
history. She recently left the position of provost of Trinity College
at the University of Toronto to become warden of St. Antony’s College at
Oxford University.
Book Review by Anne McDougall