History of Mughalstan

[Dominik Wujastyk]

On Mon, 28 Aug 2000, Samar Abbas wrote:

>  History reveals  [...]

This is an anthropomorphic metaphor, of course.  History is not a person,
and cannot act.  The information found in history books is created by
historians, and is profoundly contingent on many factors, including their
personal beliefs.

Sensible readers encountering a sentence beginning "History reveals..."
will immediately be on their guard, since what usually follows is the
private opinion of the writer which he or she cannot be troubled to
justify.

I am not saying that Samar Abbas's posting has no merit.

--
Dominik Wujastyk
Founder, INDOLOGY list.