|
|
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fair dealer or poser?, July 17, 2004
Australia is experiencing an outbreak of History Wars. Over the last couple of decades it has become increasingly difficult to write history outside of a particular left/progressive mould without attracting abuse. This has produced a reaction from some challengers, such as Keith Windschuttle and others, who have called the progressives for serious bias or even outright falsification in their historical accounts. Stuart Macintyre is an outstandingly progressive historian who joined the Communist Party in the 1960s. He is also one of the most senior and influential academic historians in Australia so his example, for better or worse, is likely to exert a profound influence in the profession. In the first part of this book he explains that history is a discipline, a branch of knowledge that is governed by rules of evidence, so that historians create history but they are not free to invent or falsify it. Honesty and professional standards matter. He wrote that adherence to such standards is one of the issues at stake in the History Wars. (p 29-30) This position on professionalism and the importance of respect for the truth is apparently spelled out to rebuke the conservative and revisionist History Warriors. They obey only Rafferty's rules. They caricature their opponents and impugn their motives. They appeal to loyalty, hope, fear and prejudice. In their intimidation of the history profession, they act as bullies. In submitting history to the loyalty test, they debase it. Australians deserve more from their history than the History Wars.(p 222) After the introductory chapters on the evolution of the profession in Australia and the craft of the trade there are some case histories of the "wars",some episodes when leading historians were under fire for outspoken public statements, the battle for control of the agenda for the Bicentenary celebrations, disputes over the extent of violence on the frontier during settlement of the continent, allegations of bias in the National Museum, and a chapter on the response by Prime Minister Howard and his colleagues to the historians who adopt an apologetic attitude to our history. Here Macintyre joins the contest in opposition to the so-called History Warriors and it is apparent that his partisan stance has damaged his respect for the facts. For example, Pauline Hanson, a populist politician who enjoyed a short season of success, did not condemn assistance to Aboriginals as claimed in this book (p 139), in fact she echoed the call from Martin Luther King for rewards or welfare on the basis of merit or need, not skin colour. People who are closer to the action may know whether Stuart Macintyre, in his effort to depict himself as a fair dealing elder statesman, has failed in a genuine effort to transcend his own history, or whether he has adopted a pose. Presumable time will tell. In the meantime we can hope that his colleagues will follow his precepts rather than his practice. He has demanded high standards of honesty, civility and professionalism, so it will be an interesting exercise to judge his performance, and that of his progressive colleagues, by his own standards.
|
See all 14 books citing this book
