"'The Past Is the Key of the Present and the Mirror of the Future'"

"Today, the writing and teaching of history has been drawn into the vortex of the culture wars. Why is history so controversial? The French historian Ernest Renan had an answer. Historical analysis, he famously wrote in the late 19th century, has always been linked to broader ideas about the nation-state. National consciousness, or at least the sense of unity and patriotic pride that accompanies nation-building, he argued, rests in part on historical mythology. Indeed, Renan wrote, because 'historical error' plays a significant role in the creation of a national consciousness, advances in the field of history—including the replacement of myth by accurate accounts of the past—are often seen as 'a threat to the nation.'"

Eric Foner at The Nation writes that "[h]eated controversy over what history books students and interested adults should encounter has a long history."