Elphaba, where I’m from, we believe all sorts of things that aren’t true. We call it -“history.” A man's called a traitor - or liberator…A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist. Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader? It's all in which label is able to persist. There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities…So we act as though they don't exist!” ~ Lyrics from “Wonderful” (Wicked) Portrait de Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) (Photo Source: Musée Carnavalet, Paris) Introduction One of the first things I teach my students is that history is not, as many textbooks would have us believe, black and white. I suppose I take the “yin and yang” approach. Within every event, every person, there is both good and evil and that the truth in history lies in the vast shades of gray. Like the song above says, as human beings, we tend to be intimidated by moral ambiguity and so we take an all or nothing approach. Perhaps we’re lazy or we just haven...
history. photography. musings about life