sorry to double reply, but i really wanted to make this other point because it bugs the hell out of me personally…
he is generally overshadowed
it’s great that you chose those words… it’s true, he is eclipsed by them in history texts, written by historians… this is obviously due to the fact that historians are obsessed with conflict… there is nothing interesting to talk about when everyone is living a nice, peaceful life… especially if it lasts a long time…
Tolkien explains this concept incredibly well in the foreword to the Hobbit, i think… he says something like, “good days are nice to live, but nobody wants to hear you talk about them… whereas everyone wants to hear a scary story…” historians like to talk about dragons…
as you are demonstrating here, thank you… perhaps i should have said that Tolkien suggests it’s hard to get a hobbit to listen, unless there’s a dragon…
There are some really fascinating fields that have emerged since the revival of history as an academic discipline in the 19th century, and especially since the second half of the 20th century. Some really great work on the social fabric of past societies, rather than war, politics, and tabloid gossip that usually gets recorded.
Not that any of that is necessarily bad, I love reading about that too, lmao, but it’s nice to have a wider view of things!
great work on the social fabric of past societies,
yeah, this is what i’m talking about, and how that social fabric has progressed, and is still progressing as a thing unto itself… specifically in spite of war, which hates civilization…
thank you for adding that further context
that’s why i loved this post right away… it’s about one of the guys whose life was totally committed to that fabric, and we still owe this guy today in a way we don’t understand well…
sorry to double reply, but i really wanted to make this other point because it bugs the hell out of me personally…
it’s great that you chose those words… it’s true, he is eclipsed by them in history texts, written by historians… this is obviously due to the fact that historians are obsessed with conflict… there is nothing interesting to talk about when everyone is living a nice, peaceful life… especially if it lasts a long time…
Tolkien explains this concept incredibly well in the foreword to the Hobbit, i think… he says something like, “good days are nice to live, but nobody wants to hear you talk about them… whereas everyone wants to hear a scary story…” historians like to talk about dragons…
Ancient historians, certainly. Modern historians take a much stronger interest in such things.
as you are demonstrating here, thank you… perhaps i should have said that Tolkien suggests it’s hard to get a hobbit to listen, unless there’s a dragon…
There are some really fascinating fields that have emerged since the revival of history as an academic discipline in the 19th century, and especially since the second half of the 20th century. Some really great work on the social fabric of past societies, rather than war, politics, and tabloid gossip that usually gets recorded.
Not that any of that is necessarily bad, I love reading about that too, lmao, but it’s nice to have a wider view of things!
yeah, this is what i’m talking about, and how that social fabric has progressed, and is still progressing as a thing unto itself… specifically in spite of war, which hates civilization…
thank you for adding that further context
that’s why i loved this post right away… it’s about one of the guys whose life was totally committed to that fabric, and we still owe this guy today in a way we don’t understand well…