History as Narrative

Young's book demonstrates the ways in which memory is translated into history by using the memories of one man and examining the ways in which those memories were honed to serve the needs of an emerging nation, and the ways in which they are still used to meet the needs of each new generation of Americans as they try to understand what it means to be an American, what it means to live in a country with one particular past and not some other past.

The book focuses on the events of December 16, 1773, when a group of about 150 white men dis

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y and most of those who had actually made history had died, the nation began to shore up the memories of those days. Those who were at Lexington or at Griffin's Harbor could have no sense of how important their actions would be. They hoped to make a difference, but history is the connected stories of those actions that did make a difference, not simply those actions that people hoped would be effective. Memory includes that sense of having done the best that one can while history gives little regard to failed efforts. History, in its broadest sense, is the totality of all past events, although a more realistic definition would limit it to the known past. Young, by focusing on the ways in which memories over time are collected, compared, winnowed and woven in history is engaging in historiography, which is the examination of the process of history-making. In seeking the understand how particular events that occurred during the American Revolution became ongoing touchstones for our sense of who we are as a people, Young is writing both history and historiography. Of all the fields of serious study and literary effort, history may be the hardest to define precisely, because the attempt to uncover past events and formulate an inte
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Approximate Word count = 1239
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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