peer review classmates answer about Jonathan Vance, in Canada and the First

i‌‍‍‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‍ have TWO colleagues peer reviews. each peer review should have 135 words.you have to‌‍‍‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‍ answer each peer review. Be thoughtful and use critical thinking skills when replyin‌‍‍‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‍g

Q:Why should intentions and objectivity matter in how we talk about the past? Not one of these readings involve historians making history, yet all of them are about the power of history to shape meaning. How do they differ in intentions and objectivity?

 First peer review: 135 words

Intention versus actuality of actions is an important aspect to consider, especially when looking at history. While one's intentions might be good, what actually ends up happening is not always good, and vice versa. This is relevant when discussing the past because poor intentions can lead to a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of history that can sway people's opinions. At the same time proper intentions can benefit all of society, as seen in Canada; “Whether these assumptions would stand up in the cold light of critical enquiry was irrelevant”1 Vance explains the intention of the statues to commemorate the sacrifice of members of the community for the greater good and for their heroic deaths to preserve freedom. But here we question the actuality of the deaths. Many of the deaths in WWI were combat related. This should not take away the meaning of their loss. In this example, a clear intention exists to strengthen the collective memory of the town, and nation, in a manner that honors those who gave their lives. This gives positive meaning to the loss of life, even if that loss was not in a heroic fashion. The truth in this example is that many of the deaths were almost certainly not in a heroic fashion. But zooming out to the larger picture, all of these men were serving in the military and working, in some capacity, with the intention of defeating the enemy. A hint of truth can be found within the subjectivity of Canadian war memorials. As Sir Arthur Currie states, a non-heroic death is irrelevant because soldiers were fighting for “the glory of sacrifice for the ideals.”2 The soldiers simply being enlisted and present could be enough to give them the honor that the Canadian Memorials award.The story of Lincoln's wrestling escapade is told almost like a game of telephone, passing from one person to the next through different recollections of the events; “the two other informants who claimed to know something about it told somewhat different versions of the story.”3 Eventually reaching the newspaper and the public's eye. The public version being a combination of the different versions. The collective memory of the actual events is minuscule compared to the Canadian collective memory of WWI. Instead, the collective memory of the public becomes attached to the newspaper story. Here, the difference lies in the intention of the use of the actions and not as much with the actual actions of Lincoln. Howells had the power to choose how to use this story. One individual has strong subjectivity that is unlikely to be hidden. On the other hand, entire Canadian towns possess the objectivity and united front to erect the statues. It is also important to recall the divisiveness of topics. World War One has clear sides that one should take, especially in the aftermath of the events. But politics during an election cycle can flare up emotions and create issues, therefore it is important to keep in mind subjectivity. We can see the subjectivity present in Howells, and in most people. As George Bernard Shaw stated, “All autobiographies are lies. I do not mean unconscious unintentional lies; I mean deliberate lies.”4 If one can lie about himself, why wouldn’t one lie about others? If it is not possible for an individual to be objective about themselves, can history truly be objective? We can see in Heidemann's and “Conny” 's interaction with the “Hitler Diaries" that people can lie about themselves and others very easily. Although many aspects of the diary were stolen from common knowledge of Hitler, some elements were falsified. In terms of intention here, I think one could argue that the intentions are less negatively severe. Heidemann and Kujau profited off the financial benefit from the journals, and although Heidemann may have been a fan of Nazi memorabilia, and maybe even Hitler himself, he didn’t really benefit from the pushing of a new Hitler narrative that depicted him as mundane. But if the “Hitler Diaries” were not proven to be false, that might not be the case. Intent and actual impact are two topics that go hand in hand and must be considered when looking at historical truths. Simultaneously, the objectivity or subjectivity of the person in power must be considered to judge intent.

 1.  Jonathan Vance, “Remembering Armageddon,” in Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown, David Mackenzie, ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005, 409-434.

2.  Jonathan Vance, “Remembering Armageddon,” in Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown, David Mackenzie, ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005, 409-434.

3. Douglas Wilson, “Chapter 1: Wrestling with the Evidence,” Honors Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln, New York: Vintage, 1999, 19-51.

4.  Kevin Young, “Chapter 12” Spruce Goose,” and “Chapter 13: Bakelite,” 253-284, in Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News.

 Second peer review: 135 words

For historians, intentions and objectivity matter in talking about the past because their work purports to seek the truth. Intention guides what materials are examined and how they are interpreted and reprinted. Objectivity as a guiding principle aids the historian in seeing the full range of possibilities for the narrative they are working to construct.Wilson’s historiography of the telling of Abraham Lincoln’s wrestling match with Jack Armstrong shows the importance of intention and objectivity and how meaning from such an event is shaped in different ways and to different means. In “Wrestling with the Evidence” we see a story that was told differently by an array of witnesses and that took on its own life as it was later cast by biographers. Wilson’s chapter itself is a series of questions attempting to probe at the truth, to get as close to it as possible by reconciling what has been told, what meanings have been divulged by these tellings, and how we might objectively examine them today. Wilson examines the testimonies that exist of the event and deconstructs these sources and subsequent conflicts and omissions in the story. He makes clear how some re-tellers deliberately omitted certain details like the betting to fit their own noble notions of Lincoln post-assassination–an intention and lack of objectivity that has greatly influenced our understanding of Lincoln today.Throughout the piece Wilson strives for objectivity and attempts to give context for the reader to consider while learning the historiography (for example, to the type of fighting being discussed and why that matters).“If it is inevitable that the events of the past should be colored by the preoccupations of the present,” Wilson writes, “this should be all the more reason to be on guard against the distortions that can result in this process.” [1] An excellent argument for objective intention  while acknowledging the impossibility of perfection. To that point, Wilson doesn’t fault Lincoln’s 19th and 20th century biographers for filling in the story’s holes with imaginative details. But, “the aberrations of such notable biographers serve to emphasize the importance of not losing sight of the sources.” [2]In Vance’s “Remembering Armageddon,” we see the significant role of consolation and meaning-making in response to national grief, and how historians reflected on the Canadian memorials to fallen World War I soldiers with a more conflicted view than the memorials purported. Vance points out the difference between historians who examine WWI as the beginning of modernity, versus those who examine the period as the end of the Victorian era and in the context of that period’s attitudes and values. [3] This difference in intention determines the meaning of the soldiers’ deaths: whether they were Christ-like soldiers mythically defending the faith or men who died needlessly for political aims. These meanings also live contradictorily side by side as Vance demonstrates: “What appears to be a paradox is, in fact, an entirely understandable human response to an unparalleled tragedy.” [4] Providing consolation for loss, not a rational explanation for the war, “was the goal of the nation’s memory of the war” [5] he writes.Young’s chapters, meanwhile, demonstrate the difficulty of approaching forgers, hoaxers, and plagiarists with objectivity, as these slippery figures deliberately disrupt the very notions of truth and intention. Like Wilson points out about the stories on Lincoln, many of Young’s examples have a “ring of truth” and are falsely corroborated, even as it’s easy in retrospect to deconstruct their inaccuracies and outright falsehoods. For Young, the truth ultimately matters so that atrocities are not committed again: “any ambiguity comes off as ambivalence,” a painful result and “a form of betrayal” to those who were harmed. [6]

How history is told, or examined and re-examined, shapes meaning in the present. It shapes how we understand the past and determines our own intentions of how to put history to use today.

 [1] Douglas L. Wilson, “Chapter 1: Wrestling with the Evidence,” in Honor’s Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), 50.

[2] Ibid, 51.

[3] Jonathan Vance, “Remembering Armageddon,” in Canada and the First World War, Second Edition: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown, ed. David Mackenzie (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), 413.

[4] Ibid, 429.

[5] Ibid, 429.

[6] Kevin Young, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phones, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2017), 280.

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