Learning American History- A Better Way
by Arjun Sharma
Anyone who went through school in the United States has learned American history over and over again. I first remember learning about Christopher Columbus in the 1st grade to learn about why we get Columbus day off, followed by a lesson about the Pilgrims to understand Thanksgiving. Slowly, my knowledge was expanded- the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWI and II, the Industrial Revolution, the colonies and their early settlements, etc etc. I’ll admit that there are still parts of our history I never really memorized and continue to only know of them by name- the French and Indian War, the War of 1812, etc. I know they happened, but I don’t really know the details.
The worst part of all these classes I took is that none of them properly covered the period of time from the late 60’s through the present, except for the developments in the Civil Rights movement. Considering that a large number of people around now grew up between the 60s and the 80s, I know very little about the affairs, scandals, controversies, fads, trends, attitudes, etc of those times. The only things my generation really hears about are Watergate, Iran-Contra, and (maybe) the stock market crash of the late 80s.
That’s why my undertaking of reading the entire Doonesbury catalog from 1970 through the present has been infinitely more educational than I could ever have imagined. Whether it’s the strip’s frank way of dealing with issues ranging from drugs to race to religion, or the multi-faceted characters that all represent a little piece of us in one way or another (although the strip is admittedly liberal leaning), I’ve learned more about the history of the past 30 years than any textbook or class has ever taught me. Sure, a history textbook can tell you the facts about the protests at home and battles abroad during Vietnam, but reading the running commentary that Trudeau provided through Doonesbury taught me what was going on as those events were taking place; it’s history that was written concurrently with events, rather than with 20/20 hindsight.
The Doonesbury collection from the start until 1995 can be purchased, but there are many other ways to find the entire collection, which go until the present.
Here are a few examples of Gary Trudeau’s humor and political insight. Click to enlarge:
