Quotes About History

Jung Chang was the first person to tell a grand historical, political story through a personal narrative.

There's no relationship to the narrative anymore. People want their own interpretation of history. We're compartmentalizing, forgetting what came directly before, like it's not a big deal. That, to me, is a crime.

The most serious problem doing biography is the matter of time because you have to shape events into a narrative of two hours; you have to create a dramatic arc. That can be a challenge.

British women's history was never confined to the British mainland; and contesting the narrative around enfranchisement shows us that rights were not bestowed by the state, but extracted from it by force.

We have been, obviously both in Maine and nationally, enmeshed in this false narrative that's based on a fear of immigrants, when in fact we are country founded by immigrants.

In order to understand the history of the banjo, and the history of bluegrass music, we need to move beyond the narrative we've inherited, beyond generalizations that bluegrass is mostly derived from a Scotch-Irish tradition with influences from Africa. It is actually a complex Creole music that comes from multiple cultures.

I'm very interested in foundational narratives.

The slave narratives, there is a wealth of research there, because you are hearing stories from the first person account, and that's a whole different thing than reading about it in the history books. You're able to really personalize it.

Everybody has told the story of black people in struggle except black people. The black people in the struggle haven't had the means to tell the story historically. There were a million slaves, but you see very few slave narratives. And that is intentional.

I was not aware of how much I loved 'Canoa' until I saw it after doing 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' and realized that my voice - over about the story's historical context - that narrator - came from 'Canoa'.

I did not come to NASA to make history.

I'm actually a NASA brat. My father was a rocket scientist. He started working at NASA before it was NASA in 1959.

Floyd Thompson, a white man, desegregated NASA. Period.

My dad worked with Mary Jackson very closely at one point. I knew Katherine Johnson as well. They were all part of this group of black engineers and scientists within this larger NASA community.

You think NASA is going to be cutting edge, but they've got so many buildings that are just left over from the '60s. It's old.

If you went to school in Nashville, you were aware of all those '60s rockabilly people.

I think Charlottesville was shocking for some, but it wasn't for me or for my family, I mean, because I grew up in 1980s Nashville.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

The rise or fall of Shanghai means the birth or death of the whole nation.

Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience... from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor.

What makes America great is that we were founded on a Judeo-Christian nation. That's very important for us to understand.

Through the centuries, over 1.2 million brave men and women have given their lives for our nation.