Amy’s Reviews > The nature of history > Status Update

“We cannot escape from history. Our lives are governed by what happened in the past, our decisions by what we believe to have happened. Without a knowledge of history, man and society would run adrift, rudderless craft on the uncharted sea of time.”

Also the excessively western focus I find a bit disappointing though absolutely justifiable and understandable. The use of the term Anglo-Saxon as a synonym for Anglophone also grated on me but I’m not best places to comment on that.

I should add I’m not saying the author did it deliberately nor am I trying to do a disservice to him, my patience is just wearing thin and this poor book turned out to be the proverbial straw.

The book overall ok but I’m slightly frustrated now about the use of ‘men’ as a catch-all term. I’m used to this in older literature and I don’t make a fuss, but this was written in the 80s + it now seems pigheadedly deliberate. And I am fed up. I am fed up of writers who don’t even try. I am fed up of playing along with their exhausting ridiculous pretence. It’s not even feminism now I’m just tired.