History as Mystery [Paperback]

Michael Parenti (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0872863573 | ISBN-13: 978-0872863576 | Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Essays on how history’s victors distort and suppress the documentary record in order to perpetuate their power and privilege, and how historians are influenced by the professional and class environment in which they work.

"Michael Parenti, always provocative and eloquent, gives us a lively as well as valuable critique of orthodoxy posing as ‘history.’"—Howard Zinn

"Solid if surely controversial stuff."—Kirkus

Table of Contents

Prologue: Against the Mainstream
History as Miseducation
Mainstream Orthodoxy
The Hunt for Real History
Textbooks: America the Beautiful
For Business, Against Labor
The School as a Tool
Priests and Pagans, Saints and Slaves
Triumph of the One True Faith
Silencing the Pagans
Accepting the Powers that Be
Affluent Believers
Saints For Slavery
Bishops and Barbarians, Jezebels and Jews
The Myth of the Devout Peasant
The Curse of Eve
The Burning of Books
Preparing the Holocaust
History in the Faking
Suppression at the Point of Origin
Cold War in the Archives
Classified History, USA
Listening to the Muted Masses
In Ranke's Footsteps
His Majesty's Servant
An Aristocratic Profession'
Purging the Reds
Publishing and Privishing'
Marketing the Right Stuff
The Strange Death of President Zachary
Taylor, a Study in the Manufacture of
Mainstream History
Examining the Examination
Confrontation with the Slavocracy
A lethal Dose of Cherries and Milk?
Honorable Men and Official History
Against Psychopolitics
Depoliticizing the Political
Dubious Clinical Data
Lenin as Oedipus
The Compulsive Hoover
The Political Hoover
When the Political Becomes Personal
Afterword

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Parenti (Democracy for the Few, etc.) argues that history is written by the victors, and he doesn't like it one bit. That's mostly because, as a progressive, his sympathies lie largely with history's losers. Historians, Parenti insists, have promoted gross miseducation across the board, abandoning "what really happened" in favor of a "pro-business, anti-labor" view of history. In his effort to "set things right," he turns, first, to the writings of historical textbooks, blaming "the powers that be"Ahistorians, publicists, publishers, Publishers Weekly, the culture at largeAfor sustaining a "mainstream orthodoxy." Parenti then turns to Christianity's suppression of paganism, seen microscopically in Constantine's silencing of Porphyry, to conclude that, as with all hegemonies, Christian teaching and preaching is really just an "ideological justification for the worldly interests of a ruthless slaveholding class." The problem is that Parenti is a much better complainer than he is an explainer. He's at his best when he localizes his argument in a chapter that takes on the "strange death" of President Zachary Taylor. Only there is the mysterious process by which speculation transforms into official record given ample analysis. Parenti wants a people's history, not just another account of the "gentrification of history." Yet the actual story here is slanted, jumbledAtailored to fit Parenti's all-too-familiar contentions, illustrated at times with bullet points. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Parenti, a self-styled "progressive" thinker, seems to be telling us that history is written by the winners. How original! This one-sided emotional screed repeatedly sets up straw men and then knocks them down. For example, Parenti asserts that the Catholic Church often propped up the oppressive status quo during the Middle Ages. Does any serious student of history need to be reminded of that generally accepted assertion? In his dogmatic insistence on finding a proslavery conspiracy behind the death of Zachary Taylor, Parenti crosses over from paranoia to absurdity. Yet, this is a book worth reading. For objective scholars, it provides a window to the workings of a mind hog-tied by ideology. The general reader may find that some of the less extreme speculations provide interesting food for thought. In any case, this book serves as a useful reminder that the paranoid style in politics is alive and well at both ends of the political spectrum. Jay Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872863573
• ISBN-13: 978-0872863576
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Parenti (Berkeley, CA) is the acclaimed author of more than twenty books, including, most recently, Contrary Notions: The Michael Parenti Reader; The Assassination of Julius Caesar; and The Culture Struggle. The New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the New York Review of Books, Harper's, The Nation, and Antioch Review, are among the countless publications that have praised Parenti's work. For further information, visit his Web site: michaelparenti.org

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves to be a classic, December 29, 1999

By 

Drew Hunkins (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History as Mystery (Paperback)

This an absolutely sensational book that deserves to be read by a wider audience than it will probably get. Parenti touches on traditionally taboo subjects and sheds a whole lotta light on them. His section on the religious inquisition is outstanding along with the analysis of how powerful mainstream intellectuals have white washed the death of Zachary Taylor. If you have time to read only one history book all year make this the one.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the truth shall set you free, January 6, 2000

By 

The Reverend (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History as Mystery (Paperback)

I've read several of Parenti's other books, and I avidly absorb Chomsky, Zinn, etc. So the fact that I was thrilled to get this book for Christmas (from my Mom, who no doubt didn't look inside or she'd have been horrified by the critique of the Church) should come as no surprise. Parenti writes in a very comfortable style that is more accessible than Chomsky while retaining a very academic approach. I think this makes his work far more readable for the average person and certainly for people who are just approaching the field of progressive thought (such as my wife) and aren't ready for for the more analytical style of Chomsky. The subject matter I was quite familiar with before reading it, but it was nice to be able to reference the footnotes and have easy access to supporting documentation for my arguments with people who believe anything they see on TV. Thanks for a wonderful book, as usual, Michael!

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, August 30, 2001

By 

C. Ammons (Pittsburgh PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: History as Mystery (Paperback)

Readers of Zinn, Chomsky, Herman etc will find little new in reading this as other works by Parenti but this takes away little in the entertainment of the read. Like other Parenti books 'History As Mystery' is filled with many delightful facts rarely mentioned in mainstream history and scholarship. Aside from the distasteful apologetics of lenninism and the soviet union much of what Parenti says is highly accurate and relevant. The most novel chapter I feel was the one on Zachary Taylor being poisoned. Parenti makes a strong case for this being a possibility but does not do a good job linking this to the 'bias of modern historians.'
I have to admit however that I was somewhat dissapointed in 'History as Mystery.' I found little value in two chapters discussing the oppressiveness of the catholic church in the middle ages, and although the chapter on 'pyschopolitics' is highly amusing it is somewhat dated. A better Parenti book to read I feel would be 'Against Empire' which does a wonderful job debunking the ideas that the 'US only cares about world democracy' and that empires are artifacts of the ninteenth century. I got this book for 5$ at a used bookstore. Although not the best (in rhetoric or information) radical book I feel it was worth the cost!