1. The video camera provides such an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life that it has become a more important form of documentation than written records.
2. Most people would agree that building represent a valuable record of any society’s past, but controversy arises when old buildings stand on ground that modern planners feel could be better used for modern purposes. In such situations, modern development should be given precedence over the preservation of historic buildings so that contemporary needs can be served.
3. The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries.
4. The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten.
5. The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives.
6. When we concern ourselves with the study of history, we become storytellers. Becauses we can never know the past directly but must construct it by interpreting evidence, exploring history is more of a creative enterprise than it is an objective pursuit. All historians are storytellers.
7. So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present.
8. The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history.