THE HISTORY SHOPPE The Adventures of a Young Historian J. Fred MacDonald © 2009-2010 J. Fred MacDonald Table of Contents Prologue ........................................................................................................... 5 The Boy Historian............................................................................... 1 Revolutionary Methods....................................................... 19 A Trip to Guernsey .......................................................................... 27 The Culture of Fear...................................................................... 53 Historical Truth............................................................................... 77 Evaluating the Negative ...................................................... 96 Schools Of Thought.................................................................... 126 The Community .................................................................................... 158 Credits .............................................................................................................. 171 © 2009-2010 J. Fred MacDonald Prologue In the Beginning was the Act—followed soon by the Document which recorded the Act. Thus was born History. All that was missing was the Historian, the scholar who would uncover the Document and report its significance to the world. That happened swiftly enough when long-forgotten scribes writing of Great Deeds placed their tales on cuneiform tablets, papyrus, paper fashioned from plant fibers, or on the wet clay of a fallen leader’s tomb. It happened, too, when preliterate societies designated village griots and others of intellect to memorize the stories of events past. But the Discipline of History, the systematic investigation of past events and the training of young minds to engage in this study, did not emerge until the ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides wrote their masterful accounts when the Greek city states were at their zenith. From those days until the present, the Historian has been an integral, even crucial aspect of human civilization. And from then until now novices in the Discipline have followed a familiar course, learning from their wise elders but discovering for themselves. One of these stories we now tell. © 2009-2010 J. Fred MacDonald The Boy Historian Scott Tennyson was ready for the history exam. He was sure he knew all the answers. He had crammed for two hours the previous evening, and he reviewed his notes before leaving for school in the morning. Scott was confident when he arrived at John F. Kennedy High School. “Bring it on,” he thought to himself. Besides, if there was any subject he knew cold, it was history. Scott loved the subject. Stories of the past intrigued his 16-year-old mind. Movies and TV films with historical themes were his favorites. He collected DVDs of movies and TV series with recreations of the past. In particular, Scott enjoyed reading about U.S. presidents and their accomplishments; but his fascination with history was far-ranging. From the ruins of Ancient Egypt to the Emperors of Japan, Scott liked to sample everything. And that interest did not escape his friends at school. They referred to him playfully as The King of All History. And he enjoyed the title because history was Scott’s identity at JFK. Still, as he sat in Mrs. Sweeney’s fourth-period class with a 25-question test in front of him, his self-assurance was suddenly shaken. Question 15 was a tough one that he couldn’t answer immediately. It made him stop and ponder: Who was the President of the United States when the Gadsden Purchase was finalized? A) James Polk B) Zachary Taylor C) Franklin Pierce D) James Buchanan Scott was a little stumped. He had flat-out forgotten the date of the Gadsden Purchase. He remembered reading about that acquisition by the United States of territory along the border between Mexico and Arizona. But, if he couldn’t remember the year it Page 1 CHAPTER ONE occurred, it was impossible for him to link the event with the man who was President at the time. He knew it happened before 1861 when the Civil War began, but his mental checklist of pre-Civil War events failed to trigger his memory. The Dred Scott Decision, the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Mexican War—he knew all of the historic milestones. But who was president when the Gadsden Purchase was completed? As time was nearly up, Scott reverted to the fallback strategy familiar to puzzled students everywhere: he took an educated guess. Debating in his mind between Franklin Pierce and Zachary Taylor, Scott finally decided on James Buchanan as the answer. Why Buchanan? Because Buchanan was D on the list and Scott had marked D as the answer to only two other questions. As he figured it, the people who wrote the test surely must have used D as an answer more than twice. He used his pencil to fill in the circle next to President Buchanan’s name just as Mrs. Sweeney announced that time had expired. While his classmates yawned and stretched to bring circulation back to their cramped hands and arms, Scott feared that his reputation for perfection was about to take a hit. He would soon find out because Mrs. Sweeney immediately asked the students to exchange answer sheets in order to grade each other’s work. Then, in a soft, precise cadence she began to announce the correct answers. “The first answer is B,” she said. “The answer to question 2 is C. The answer to question 3 is A.” She moved relentlessly from top to bottom as students dutifully marked incorrect answers with a large X. The grading was quick and for Scott, brutal. In less than five minutes he discovered that Franklin Pierce was President when the Gadsden Purchase was completed. And to his amazement he learned that he had missed a second question, this Page 2 THE BOY HISTORIAN one about the opening of the Civil War. He had selected Fort McScott as the site of the first military clash between rebellious Southern states and the government of the United States. The correct answer was Fort Sumter. Two wrong and 23 correct. Not bad for anyone. But not perfect. For Scott, however, it was devastating. He tried not to let his classmates see the disappointment in his face. Fortunately, the bell rang and Scott rushed off to the cafeteria to eat lunch and deal with his wounded pride. The remainder of the day was filled with typical school demands. After lunch there was an English class, then physical education, then a meeting of the Service Club, an extra-curricular group to which he belonged. This schedule was helpful to Scott as a distraction, but not enough to make him forget those two mistakes. A few of his friends kidded The King of All History about his errors. The taunting was irritating, but not as painful as his self-criticism. As he walked home along busy Huron Boulevard, Scott couldn’t stop berating his performance. He had prepared elaborate lists of dates and events and committed all of them to memory. He was proud of his ability to remember historic details, but his skill had failed him today. Certainly, he realized that missing a few answers on a test was not the end of the world. But he didn’t like it. So deep was his preoccupation, Scott passed First Avenue where he always turned on his way home. It wasn’t until he reached Third Avenue, an unfamiliar street, that he realized his oversight. However, rather than go back two blocks he decided to turn on Third. It’s in the same direction, he figured, so it should be no problem. Page 3 CHAPTER ONE He was surprised, however, as he moved down the new route. Everything seemed different. Scott found himself passing many unfamiliar stores: a bakery, a bicycle store, a café, a dress shop, and several boutiques. These were small businesses that he had never seen before. They were not at all like the gigantic supermarkets, car dealerships, and big box stores on First Avenue. He had lived in this city for four years since moving with his parents from a small town in an adjoining state. But now he felt as if he were strolling in an alien land. It was bizarre. “A time warp, that’s it, I must be trapped in an episode of The Twilight Zone,” he joked to himself. As he continued walking Scott became fascinated by one intriguing establishment in particular. Set back about 25 feet from the sidewalk, it was an imposing gray Victorian house that appeared to have been converted into a store. It reminded him of those large haunted houses he had seen in old scary movies. But it was the name over the entrance that really attracted his attention: THE HISTORY SHOPPE . “How cool,” he said aloud, “but, what’s The History Shoppe?” Scott wondered what kinds of products were sold in a store like this. He decided to find out. The pathway from the sidewalk to the front door was paved in uneven cobblestones. Even more old-fashioned was the small high-pitched bell that rang when he opened the front door. Scott had seen retro items like this in old black-and-white movies, st but he was a boy of the American city in the 21 century. He was used to walkways smoothly paved with asphalt or concrete. And tiny bells never sounded when he entered Wal-Mart or Best Buy. It was a little dark inside the store, so it took a few seconds for Scott’s eyes to adjust to the lack of light. The first images to register with him were elaborate tapestries Page 4