Saturday, December 19, 2009

An Important Idea For Understanding History

An Important Idea For Understanding History

From Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (New York: Ballatine Books, 1978), 219-220:
What is rare is a woman's account of herself. The anguished Heloise in the 12th century and the feminist Christine de Pisan in the later 14th speak out, and both are bitter, although that does not necessarily establish a rule. In individuals as in nations, contentment is silent, which tends to unbalance the historical record.

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