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HMMMM... O.K., SO MAYBE IT DIDN’T HAPPEN JUST THAT WAY
A Gary Hartzel Presentation 

The ancient Greek writer Herodotus had two nicknames, "the father of history" and "the father of lies," and the people who called him by these names sometimes used them to mean the same thing. History as we receive it is often skewed by various biases and propagandistic impulses. History is, as the saying goes, written by the winners.
 
Then there is the problem of textbooks. As heavy as some are, all have space limitations. Think of the American History text you used in high school or the European History text you used in college. Because of space limitations in general history textbooks there most often isn’t room to tell the complete story of an event or of the people in the event. That can lead to a lasting incorrect sense of how some event occurred or what a particular person said or did.

Then there is the happenstance of complete fraud. Not just that some elements have been exaggerated or downplayed; the event described simply never happened at all. Some of the foundational stories of American History and even the larger Western culture were complete fabrications meant to pass on some greater truth, or in some cases to achieve some more sinister purpose. But they end up as fact in our minds.
I’ve gathered examples of things that many – if not most – people think are true and happened just the way they’re heard it. Well, there are a lot of events that didn’t really happen the way they are told or even the way they are taught. Some of it, I think, is really fun.  

1:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Joslyn Community Center
1601 North Valley Drive, Manhattan Beach

For more information about this activity, please call the Older Adults Program at (310) 802-5430. No reservation required.