Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot View Post
Jock,

Really though, you could easily take out the references to Scotland in your post, plug in USA, and that would be my observations from working for over a decade in public and academic history. I worked as a park ranger at a Civil War Battlefield, and we dealt with the mythology of that conflict, much of it historically inaccurate, on a daily basis.

Of course, that doesn't deter me from attempting to get it right and tell the story -- my mentor, the State Historian of Arizona, once had a student write on his evaluation, "Missing Mr. Trimble's class is like missing something I bought tickets for!" -- that is something I strive for everytime I take the podium and stand in front of a class.

If anything, your post above motivates me to make history a "well-told story" and hopefully get one student interested in its study -- if I've done that, then I've done my job.



T.
I don't doubt what you say one bit and I think modern Scotland and its cynical attitude to its past is a salutary lesson to all "commercial" historians. Alright Scotland is a small country compared to the USA, but there is no doubt that as a country we are in desperate need to get our heads out of these mystical clouds.I will give you but one example, until fairly recently(in historical terms) lowland Scots poured ridicule on the kilt and now they wander about talking as though they invented it! Many lowlanders, if you tried to explain the historical facts, simply would not believe you.

Now, there is no doubt that the tourist industry has and still does raise a huge and much needed income for Scotland and the UK in general. However I do believe that the local Scots are now reacting to romantic historical and tartan overload.

Go to it Todd!