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I'm in a 200-level college history class about early America, and this week's readings and discussion have been messing with my mind. Now, I took AP US History in high school and did very well in it, but more recently than that, I've read the Alvin Maker books (I'm reading The Crystal City now), so my mind more readily leaps to historical fiction than to straight fact. Today in class we talked about the massacre at Prophetstown, and I had to practice some strong self-control to NOT refer to William Henry Harrison as "White Murderer Harrison." There have been a number of other similar cases, but that's the one that's freshest in my mind. I can't help but be amused, although I know my professor would be appalled if I ever slipped up and started referencing Alvin Maker.
So, is it just me, or has anyone else done things like this with Alvin Maker and history? There's got to be an amusing anecdote or two out there. Share!
Posts: 34 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Ugh. I've had the same problems, and since I'm long past college I can no longer remember which things were real and which things were "alternate history". It's embarrassing.
It has made me want to go back and study more details of American History the way it actually happened in this universe.
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I am in an AP US History class right now and I started talking about Denmark Vesey and the slave revolt the day before we were told about it and my teacher was really surprised, he said noone else had even heard of Denmark Vesey before...
Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
We refused to let our daughter read Alvin Maker until she was done with her American History course!
Posts: 1862 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
i keep referencing Harry Turtledove in history classes.
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posted
I feel your pain. I once wrote a history essay where I referred to the American president during the Great War as "Woodrow Wilson Smith". Bonus points to the first one to know the reference!
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'll bet that your history teacher looked like he'd seen someone rise from the dead when he read that, KoM.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I think this jsut goes to show how significant Historians are on our current cultures... If things are not truthfully documented, 50 or 100 years from now things might be viewed as the truth. Its like that whole group of people who are convinced that the holocost never happend and that it was all just a giant fabrication. I guess it's not just history either, its also current events... That is why although I despise the current US President and I think he is an ignorant and arrogant man, I will also listen to the arguments of those who support him such as OSC... because as long as you only listen to one side of an argument you are not free to make your own decisions.
Posts: 104 | Registered: Apr 2005
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