tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18370689.post113718175103828216..comments2023-09-17T07:33:22.109-04:00Comments on York Staters: Ashokan FarewellYork Statershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10580401207146050684noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18370689.post-1137346414253623742006-01-15T12:33:00.000-05:002006-01-15T12:33:00.000-05:00Jon, I have also heard this, in fact, I found a...Jon,<BR/> I have also heard this, in fact, I found a site (http://www.sullivanballou.com/) that dissects the letters. They discuss the various versions of the letter, the stories surrounding Ballou, and the historicity of the letter. Myself having not seen the original documentation, have to leave this one to the historians to settle out, but abridged or unabridged, it is a powerful statement.<BR/> However, this brings up some good questions and the Ballou site begins with the quote: "Nobody changes history more than historians." I think whenever we, as students of history, examine documents and especially interpretations of the past, we must remember that they not only reflect the past, but also the historian/interpreter. Why select Ballou's letter from all of the hundreds of thousands that were written? Why abridge it? What was the abidger and the documentary maker trying to say or do with history? Is it a license we should give them? Where should we stop? It is inevitable that we see history from our own unique place in time, through the lens of the present, but how much are historians expected to be unbiased? I highly suggest the work of historian <A HREF="http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/" REL="nofollow">James W. Loewen</A>, especially <I>Lies Across America</I> and <I>Lies my Teacher Told Me</I> and <A HREF="http://howardzinn.org/default/" REL="nofollow">Howard Zinn's</A> articles on history and its interpretation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18370689.post-1137308444831457792006-01-15T02:00:00.000-05:002006-01-15T02:00:00.000-05:00Jesse - I hate to burst a bubble, but I think the ...Jesse - <BR/><BR/>I hate to burst a bubble, but I think the Sullivan Ballou letter may have been Ken Burns taking artistic liscence. I remember reading somewhere along the way that the letter was more like a "composite" of statements similar to those contained in many letters home. <BR/><BR/>Check it out, I might be wrong about this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com