Musings On a Literary Giant and the Nature of History

Undeniably, one of my favorite authors is James Michener, whose novels are vast sagas spanning centuries, and even millennia.

There is really something to be said about a work of literature that not only draws you in and relentlessly rivets your attention but also educates you in the process.

Not only was Michener an excellent story-teller, he was also a historian, educator, social commentator, and cultural observer. His novels were extremely well researched with pages of notes and acknowledgements.

In reading Michener's works I have learned about the history of the Holy Land; the politics behind NASA and the space program; the histories and colonizations of South Africa, Colorado, Texas; the origin of the word "buccaneer;" the mystique behind bull fighting; the Spanish obsession for maintaining pure Spanish blood during Spain's colonization of Mexico; and many more interesting historical and cultural tidbits.

Never before I had known how significantly high school football and cheerleading figured in Texas culture. Nor was I aware that Alaska was once a Russian colony.

I was drawn into the lives of fictional characters and their intertwinings with historical figures such as George Washington and several other U.S. presidents, Davy Crockett and Buffalo Bill, Francis Drake, Werner von Braun, Carl Sagan, and Frederick Douglass, just to name a few.

And I learned some new vocabulary words such as "manumission" and "acidulous."

Right now in Chesapeake, I have been learning about the persecution of Quakers and the slave trade in colonial America.

Reading Michener's works has given to contemplation about the nature of history.

Generally history is viewed as a chronological record of events.

But what is the underlying motivation behind those events? And what part does attitude and belief play in the unfolding of events?

Take for instance slavery during U.S. colonial times up until Lincoln's presidency.

Slavery played a major economic role in the early part of U.S. history, particularly in the south on cotton and tobacco plantations.

Even though the cost of obtaining numerous slaves, feeding and clothing them, and providing for them shelter and medical care was considerable, it was less than the cost of hiring labor.

This was especially true since slaves were viewed as livestock. A plantation owner would have to buy just 2 slaves ~ a male and female ~ and later be assured of a lifetime "herd" more slaves with the breeding of the 2 original slaves.

In addition to the economic benefits of owning slaves, slave owners justified the unwilling bondage of other human beings by dehumanizing them.

The blacks from Africa were not considered to be human. They were classified as dirty and ignorant savages, more animal than human.

Among the more inhumane slave owners, this gave them reason to heap vicious cruelties upon the black slaves.

The more enlightened slave owners ~ those who never beat their slaves ~ firmly believed that the blacks were not intellectually capable to looking after themselves and that they needed to be kept as slaves for their own protection against the harshness and challenges of everyday life.

And the general belief was that blacks lacked the intelligence and intellectual prowess to withstand the rigors of academic life.

Also, there was much to be feared with an educated slave who could read. Knowledge is power.

Thus, it was forbidden for blacks to learn how to read. Severe punishments were meted out to slaves caught with books as well as to those free white people ~ Quakers usually ~ who challenged current social conventions by teaching slaves how to read.

This is just one example of how attitudes and beliefs shaped history. And I am sure that this same argument could applied to other events in history.

For instance, take Hitler.

Granted, he rescued Germany from the ravages of a poor economy. But his obsession with the purity of the Aryan race and his belief in the inferiority of Jews and other ethnic and religious groups led to the extermination of 6 millions Jews and countless others, such as the Gypsies, Armenians, Catholics, etc.

Scratch underneath the surface of any historical event and you will discover fear and ignorance as the driving forces.

Even a seemingly positive event, such putting a man on the moon, or an event that improved the quality of life, such as the discovery of penicillin, have had their basis in fear ~ fear of one nation losing its position in the world to a nation of differing political ideologies and fear of losing lives to bacterial infection.

Really, have there been any historical events that weren't driven by a fear of the loss of national/cultural identity, the loss of quality of life, or the loss of life itself?