Now that I am almost done reading Alice Walker's The Color Purple, I thought that I should probably have a look at the future tasks presented by the Popsugar Reading Challenge 2016. So here are the next two challenges:

Team Potter or Team Everdeen?? (1)

1) A YA bestseller: So naturally, first thing that came to my mind was Katniss Everdeen and Harry Potter!!

Too much melodrama!! (2)

However both these characters are part of long book series and I hoped to read something that was more of a standalone. While browsing the web for some good Young Adult books, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green often came up. But I was reluctant to read that book. Too melodramatic. 

Anyways, I think I finally decided to ready Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me Margaret. This book is such an evergreen classic. I look forward to reading it. 

The Winner !! (3)

2) A Book you haven't read since High School: This looked tough mainly because I have forgotten the many books that I had read way back in school. Save for select writers, I was not very author specific and was just content to read anything as long as it was interesting. Come to think of it, I think my reading habits still remain the same in that aspect minus some exceptions such as the 'gifted' Chetan Bhagat!! 

Anyways, this was easier than I thought it would be. I already have an old earmarked copy of The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas lying around in my bookshelf that I believe I bought in my school years. I can't think of a better book to become nostalgic over!! 

All for one, and one for all! 

One of my favorite classics.  (4)

Image Sources:

(1) Image from Sparklife via Google Images. 

(2) Image from beliefnet.com via Google Images

(3) Image from wikipedia.org

(4) Image from latimesblog.latimes.com via Google Images.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Some Thoughts

The Joys of  Reading in a Metro!1 (1)

I have to admit that 2016 did  not start on a great note for me. There were constant troubles within my personal and professional life. And not to mention, the persistent anxiety whether I would be able to finish my thesis work on time and that too, in a satisfactory manner. Though it almost seemed at times that my research work would not be progressing as smoothly as I had  hoped, one thing that continued to work well for me were my reading challenges. Counting from Bradbury's The October Country to the current one, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, I have managed to read four goods books in a span of two months so far. Though I did not not manage to write four good chapters of my thesis, I was certainly able to go through some epics works of writings. And the best part was that these books never took me away from my main work or disrupted my social life. In fact, they were finished over long metro rides between home and work. During those dull and crowded journeys, reading was really a great stress reliever that I found greatly therapeutic. Waking up and then getting ready on cold winter mornings is one of biggest drags of my life right now. Therefore to be able to prepare myself for the long hours of research work, engaging with these books seemed like the best way to relax and prepare my mind. And to be able to read from so many different genres, it not only added to that endless need for knowledge  but also opened up my world a little more. 

I am so glad that I had an opportunity to read a book as poignant and touching as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This book also took the longest to finish reading. Often, owing to the events happening in my real life, reading was constantly interrupted and many times I would forget the names and various other details in the book. But still, the wonderful sensitive narrative always managed to suck me back into the life of not just Henrietta Lacks but also the rest of the Lackses. This book is indeed a beautiful tribute to Henrietta and what her cells, interestingly called HeLa, have achieved for medical science. At the same time, it was also a touching and human portrayal of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's youngest daughter, who struggled with abuse, poverty and depression but never gave up in her quest to know more about her mother who had died while she was still a toddler, At the time of writing of the book, Deborah was in her fifties with two young grandchildren. Sadly, she died shortly before the book was published.
This book for me was not just about finding the woman behind the famed HeLa cells but also a relentless quest by a daughter who went through many difficulties just to understand who exactly her mother was. It is painful when Deborah constantly mentions to Skloot in the book, how she wants to know what her mother's favorite color was or whether her mother had breastfed her. It is this longing of a daughter and the steadfast persistence of a science reporter that permeates the many strands of narrative in this book. It was also interesting to note how fiercely Deborah guarded her mother's meager possessions including her medical documents. Skloot was able to see these documents only after constantly reassuring Deborah that she was not trying to steal or profit from them as well as consenting to be accompanied by Deborah in her many research trips. Even after that, Skloot was allowed to look at the documents only under Deborah's supervision. Though frustrating and often paranoid, Deborah's need to hold onto these possessions showed the desperation to reach out to a parent who now lived only in photographs and shockingly in medical labs in form of living cells. I feel very grateful to Rebecca Skloot for never shying away from showing the rawness of Deborah's emotions and insecurities while trying to write an history of sorts of Henrietta Lacks and her 'immortal' cells.
I admit I was a bit wary of writing a blog post on this book. In fact, the more appropriate word than 'wary' would be 'intimidating'. Because the book encapsulates so many issues within its 400 pages, one feels very 'intimidated' talking about it because simply taking one issue would not do it any justice. I greatly commend Skloot's dedication as well as her patience because it seems pretty obvious from the book that her early research period was full of many snags and dead ends. At the same time, it does make a point to me that it takes that kind of passion and curiosity for your work in order to bring something out of obscurity and give it a history and presence that is rightfully deserves.
Frankly speaking, what I have learnt from this book is that to be entitled to a past or a history is indeed a privilege. Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman living in the 1950s segregationist America. Her cancer cells were harvested from her dead body by the researchers at John Hopkins Hospital, without properly informing her husband, David Lacks of the need and purpose for those cells. Of course these cells went on to do great things in science especially in groundbreaking research on diseases including the polio vaccine. But for a long time up until the 1970s, many scientists and the media were unaware of the person behind the cells. In fact, when in late 1970s, when the media began to take a slight interest in the identity of the cells, George Gey (the scientist who had collected the original samples from Henrietta's body), gave out the name of the person as Helen Lane instead of Henrietta Lacks in order to maintain secrecy. All this while, the Lackses had no idea that so much was happening in medical research because of Henrietta's cells. However, further research made it necessary to trace the origins of the cells to the Lackses family and conduct blood tests on them. Even then, no medical personnel ever bothered to inform them about the full scope for such methods.
Scientific research had made the person insignificant in comparison to her cells. HeLa was  a name and nothing more. To be able to put a face on that name and recreate a rich family history, Skloot has clearly done the memory of Henrietta Lacks a huge justice. Famed writer Susan Sontag once wrote, "My library is an archive of longings." When Skloot describes Deborah's fierce protectiveness of her mother's things in her book, the first thought that came to my mind was that this was Deborah's archive of her mother and this was an archive of intense longing. However, this archive had no voice of its own as it had been repressed, silenced and eventually forgotten until Skloot came along. I admire how Skloot recreates this archives by travelling to Henrietta's hometown, engaging with the recalcitrant Lackses, talking to scientists and medical researchers involved and for just being stubbornly persistent.
Through a parallel narrative, Skloot also traces the question of consent of patients especially when scientists needed to take samples from them for research. She shows how during Henrietta's time, consent was not considered necessary and especially in the case of poor black patients, it was definitely not something to be bothered with. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment on homeless black men and the many medical studies conducted on prisoners without fully informing them of the consequences, were examples of this negligence of consent. Often the sufferers were those who were on the bottom end of the social spectrum coupled with the belief among many scientists that  'ends justified the means.'
This book is a thoughtful and somewhat neutral look on how much good science can attain when it is pursued with an enthusiastic urge to achieve wonderful things for humankind. But it is also a testimony of how often the pursuit this good can also mean overriding the 'human' in  humankind to achieve lofty goals for the betterment of many. A retrospection within science is definitely needed without a compromise on its higher goals. I like to think that there is room for both good and consensual research practices and that they can exist side by side.


Image Sources: 

(1) Image from rebloggy.com via Google Images. 

Hi, I am back again and a Happy 2016 to everyone!!.. I am already halfway through Skloot's book on Henrietta Lacks and I am enjoying it thoroughly. I am hoping that I will be able to finish the book by today so that I can start on my Sandman's series by tomorrow. Now that I am done with the first two reading challenges on Book Riot's to-do list, I thought that I should probably decide what are the next two books that I am going to read for future tasks. So these are the next two challenges on Book Riot's list (which I will read once I am temporarily done with the Popsugar's Reading Challenge)

1) Read a collection of essays: I had initially thought of reading Susan Sontag's collection of essays called, Against Interpretation. However that book is quite hard to find and honestly too expensive!! 

Anyways, I then decided to console myself by reading Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem. But somehow I did not feel very excited to read Didion's work and again I was back to where I started. 

But then almost immediately, I had a sudden inspiration to read Robert Darnton 's book The Great Cat Massacre which was published in 1984. Granted it was not the proper kind of  'collection of essays' that the list had in mind, but it still counted as a collection of essays nonetheless, albeit a little more scholarly and academic in its presentation. And also, Darnton's book and the eponymous essay are a classic and a must-read for every aspiring historian like me. Plus this book has been long overdue on my reading list. It's high time I get down to reading it!! 

All cat lovers, proceed with caution!!

2) Read a book out loud to someone: Honestly for me, this is one of dumber challenges on the list (though you are welcome to disagree!). First of all, where am I going to find someone to whom I would read aloud to? The best option is probably to bully one of my friends in being my captive audience. My friends better watch out because I am coming for them!! Also I thought it would be highly impractical to choose a big boring book for this task. So what seemed best to me was to choose a children's book that was appropriately short and relatively interesting. 

If you are planning to waste someone else's time, the least you can do is to make it entertaining. After a lot of of shortlisting (which also include The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster), 

Finally, I decided to focus on Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. It is a lovely little picture book and thankfully has minimal dialogues. Whew!!

I am coming for you, my pretties!!!

OK, I am definitely being ambitious now. Actually, I simply could not resist this reading challenge for 2016 posted by Popsugar. Though the list is a bit Americanized, I still found some really interesting reading tasks here. Anyways, I am always looking for an excuse to read. Then why not another reading challenge!!!

http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2016-39126431

I am still following Book Riot's reading challenge but now I will be following the lists alternatively. That is, two book from one list followed by two books from the other list and so on. That means, I am still reading 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'. But after I am done, I would like to read from the Popsugar challenge list. So as per the list, the first two books that I have to read would be:

1) A book based on a fairy tale: This was really hard to decide as I must confess that I have never read anything similar in this genre. I mean, I have read actual fairy tales from Brothers Grimm to those of Hans Christian Anderson, but never one that was based on them. Also the term 'fairy tales' is a bit ambiguous to me. Broadly speaking, when you are thinking fairy tales, are you thinking stories based on commonly known figures such as Cinderella or Snow-White; or are you thinking of local folk-lore and mythological figures such as Baba Yaga or the Lady of the Lake? I admit this really confused me. Anyways, I thought that the safest bet would have been to read Bill Willingham's Fables series.

However, I am missing the last two volumes of that series and it seems pointless for me  to read something that is incomplete. So after a lot of thinking, I decided to read Neil Gaiman's acclaimed 'Sandman' series. 'The Sandman' is a popular figure in European folklore and he even shows up in one of Hans Christian Anderson's stories, as far as I remember. Anyways, what I think is that this would be an awesome opportunity to finally read the Sandman and to decide for myself whether this series lives up to the hype surrounding it. Fingers crossed!!!

Morpheus, the titular Sandman.

2) A National Book Award Winner: Again this was hard because the The National Book Award is given in both fiction as well as non-fiction categories. Plus the Award was established in 1950 which would mean that I was thoroughly spoiled for choice. While perusing the list for fiction books on Wiki, I came across Alice Walker's The Color Purple which had been given the award in 1983.

Naturally I was overjoyed as I had bought the book some years back but had never got down to reading it. And I have always been a keen fan of African American literature such as Zora Neele Easton's Their Eyes were Watching God, James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and Toni Morrison's Beloved. 

Obviously this was a great excuse to further familiarize myself with African American works and reading Alice Walker's book would only bring me much more closer to understanding these writings and the various kinds of identity politics involved. 

I am feeling really excited. If I can finish my present reading list, I would really feel like I have achieved something. Not to mention, I would feel less inept.!!

Review of Ray Bradbury's book ' The October Country'

It's a monster party!.. Hope you have your invites!

As mentioned in my previous post, the first task of the Reading Challenge 2016 was to read a horror book. Today I finally finished reading Ray Bradbury's collection of short horror stories called  The October Country. I have till now never read a Bradbury book. 'The Martian Chronicles' has been on my reading list forever. So naturally I was very excited to start reading this little collections of stories. Bradbury was the first author that come to my mind when I first saw my reading list ( and though I liked The October Country well enough, I really wish I had picked his more critically acclaimed book, 'The Illustrated Man' for this challenge.) 

Some classics of horror

Surprisingly, I am quite well read in the horror genre. It is amusing that a huge scaredy cat such as me has read horror classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Exorcist, as well as the stories by Poe and M.R. James. In context of the horror books that I have read,  I would put Dracula and The Exorcist in the same group as they both have similar themes and are written in a very fast paced style of a spy novel. The aim is to shock and intrigue you rather than give you sleepless nights. Frankenstein has always been a misfit for me in the horror genre. It is tragic, it is poetic and deeply beautiful in its writing. The horror is not the monster but rather the self-absorbed creator who puts everyone in harm's way for his own selfish ends. Rather, I found H. G. Wells, 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' much more terrifying and a harsher moral story about man's ambition to play God. In that sense, Frankenstein is less horror and more tragedy of a modern day Prometheus who goes overboard with his genius. The Monster is not born horrifying, it is made to become a horrifying creature by the fear and selfishness of its creator. Even then, it remains a tragic, misunderstood figure. 

Poe's works or rather his keen obsession with beautiful women who die early is pretty evident in most of his tales and have been much discussed in the literary circles. But still some classics such as 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Cask of Amontillado' are exceptional works. Needless to say, as much as I adore Poe's penmanship, he is clearly at his best when he is not writing about dead women!! Here I am also reminded of some of the short stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 'Mosses from an Old Manse' where the focus is also on beautiful women suffering from such immense terrifying distress that even their heroes cannot save them (Oh boy!). Classics in this theme include 'Rappaccinni's Daughter' and 'The Birth-Mark'. I think M. R. James was the one author who really managed to spook me. Initially while reading, I had assumed that he was another of those writers who was trying to imitate the style of Poe's writing (who despite his obsession, was truly a gifted writer). Thankfully James is not obsessed with dead women, but he is indeed taken with antique ornate houses with long deep histories. Almost all his stories are situated within or around a Gothic mansion or cathedral. The house is as much a participant as the protagonist of his stories. I have read 'Ghost Story of an Antiquary' and as you continue to read the book, the stories get spookier. The supernatural is hinted and acknowledged but never comes right out. Instead, like most horror writers, he skillfully puts you in the protagonist's shoes and makes you feel the chills going through that unfortunate person's spine. 'Canon Alberic's Scrap- Book', 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash Tree' and 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' (this particular story really scared the daylights out of me!!) are some great examples. 

Anyways, I seem to have got carried away with my discussion. I have to admit I chose Bradbury's collection of short stories for a particular reason. First of all, I did not want to pick something too scary such as Clive Barker's Books of Blood or Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. I really value my sleep and I would hate it if terror kept me up. Also since I am currently working on my thesis and need to travel everyday, reading short stories seemed like a good choice to not get too involved in the book in order to remain needfully focused on my work. I would say that the book on the whole, was a mixed bag. The common trope used by the author is that of psychological horror. So it might seem ambivalent whether true horror is taking place or that it is simply the paranoia of the protagonist. For me, the best story was clearly, 'The Man Upstairs'. (Attention, spoilers ahead!!) It was an interesting take on the vampire motif. The Upstairs Guy is clearly the malevolent vampire but he is actually a very submissive figure in the story. It is only hinted at that he might not be human. What was more shocking was the behavior of the protagonist, a young preteen boy, who is the only one suspicious of the Upstairs Guy. Okay, the boy is a PSYCHOPATH who calmly dissects the vampire while he is sleeping simply because he wants to prove his theory that the vampire does not have the right internal organs. And the boy does it with a smile and childish excitement. And that was horrifying!!

Another story that I liked was 'The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone' which is technically not a horror story. It seemed that the story was written more for Bradbury than the audience as it captures very ironically the tensions and fears that writers go through with each release of their books. The anxiety of continually wanting critical approval and how 'death' might free you from the hold of this strain of that pressure. It is a clever and interesting story and in fact, quite honest in its message. It really gives you an nice insight into the author. 'The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse' was a macabre take on the pressures of popularity where the true horror is actually your need to please others. It was the most insightful story among the bunch and therefore had me wondering whether I had picked the right book. 'The Emissary' was a nicely written ghost story, though a bit predictable. Actually most of Bradbury's stories in this collection are quite predictable. I also loved 'The Scythe' which was incredibly sad. 

Ray Bradbury really tries hard to push the limits of our thinking by choosing very unconventional protagonists and antagonists. You are not going to find ghosts or ferocious monsters in his stories. Instead your biggest enemy is the warfare and conflict in your mind. Something as harmless as the wind blowing on your face or the skeleton inside of you might actually be the real villain. Is your mind playing tricks or are you suddenly aware of malevolent entity that you had earlier taken for granted. While playing with this kind of horror trope, Bradbury sometimes succeeds but sometimes he flops spectacularly. Stories such as 'Uncle Einer' (think Addam's Family), 'Homecoming', 'The Wind' (a very unexpected antagonist), 'Jack-in the-Box' (very bittersweet coming of age story where Bradbury ironically twists our understanding of being dead and being alive), 'The Jar' and 'The Next in Line' (Both these stories have interesting female protagonists who also end up dead) and 'The Crowd' (predictable but still engrossing) were really excellent pieces. However some stories I simply did not get and personally for me, it was a major fail. 'The Small Assassin' had a ridiculous premise of a killing baby. Clearly a terrible ripoff of 'The Omen'!! (Though I have to admit that the ending line was very nice and quite catchy). Another one I did not like was 'There was an Old Woman' about an old lady who manages to evade death. It is supposed to be morbidly funny but humor for me falls flat. Stories like 'The Dwarf'', 'The Cistern', 'Touched With Fire' and 'The Skeleton' were just average. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read. And even though it seemed a slight bit amateur in its writing style and presentation (but not in its ideas which were quite unique and creative), it was certainly worth the time taken to read it. I also look forward in the future to read more of Bradbury's numerous works.

Next on my list is Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Looking forward to reading it and enjoying it. Cheers!!!

So I have decided to take Book Riot's 2016 Reading Challenge. This would mean that on average, I would have to read 2 books per month. I hope I will be able to finish the list. Wish me Luck!!
https://2982-presscdn-29-70-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ReadHarderChallenge2016_checklist_web.pdf

For January, I would have to read something from the following genres:
1) A Horror Book : This is a tough one as there are some really good choices out there. I think I would love to read something by Ray Bradbury. I think I will read his book of short stories called 'October Country' which was released in 1955.

2) A Non-Fiction Book about Science: For this one, I think I would like to read 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot. It is not just the science of cell type HeLa but also the story of the person behind it. Also it combines race issues and the ethical role of science (as I have been told in the Wikipedia article!!), so it should make an interesting read.

Happy Reading and a Happy 2016!!

THE LANDSCAPE OF HISTORY by John Lewis Gaddis: Some Brief Thoughts

Our book club of amateur historians had decided to read 'The Landscape of History' by famous Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis for this month. We are trying to gain a more stronger understanding of methodology in history and Gaddis' book seemed like an apt choice. While reading the book, I was reminded of Chetan Bhagat's recent comments about what historians actually did.  According to his Twitter comments, it went something like this:

   

‏@chetan_bhagat

What do historians do? I am genuinely curious. This happened. Then this happened. Then this. Ok work done for the day.

Well, Twitter did manage to troll him hilariously for his comments. But despite all of that, I think Chetan Bhagat did have a point to make. The way he described the role of historians, is actually the way most people perceive academic research in history. Bhagat just asked a question that everybody is thinking. How many times have I been plagued with questions like, "Oh, you are studying history. You must have to memorize a lot of stuff" or "Why are you studying history? Go study something that will get you a proper job in society. Don't waste your parent's money on useless endeavors" and so on. This is where I admit, Gaddis' book made a lot of sense to me.

The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Casper David Friedrich

The book starts off with this famous painting 'The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog' by German Romantic artist Casper David Friedrich. As one can easily see, a lone figure is looking onto a vast endless landscape. According to Gaddis, the Wanderer pictured is the historian and the landscape he overlooks is the past. As a historian standing at a height, one can see all the major topographical features of the landscape. What I see from a particular height and angle, would clearly affect how I understood this view and how I chose to perceive it. Gaddis says that the past is like a landscape and when one is writing about it, one is not trying to replicate it. Instead we are trying to represent it just like an artist would try to represent the natural scenery through his canvas and paints. From where we stand and choose to view this landscape, allows us to represent the reality of the past in a way that would be quite different from another wanderer looking below. No two historians can produce the exact same work (unless one wanted to plagiarize the other!!) because each brings a different experience when trying to represent the past onto their canvas. 

As historians, we are unable to reproduce every minute detail that occurred in the past simply because we were not there when the event occurred nor do we have tangible sources in the present to reconstruct the exact reality of the past. But once again, one wants to contest that whether our job is to piece out all details as much as possible. First of all, its not even humanely possible, the past is like the bottomless sea. No matter how much you try to put together details, there will always be a missing piece. At best, you get only a distorted image of the past. Secondly, this method of history is long passe but somehow the perception among the common people has remained that this is what we still do. For this I blame the lazy and robotic way in which humanities is taught and tested in our schools today. Most children continue to carry this mindset into their adulthood where like Chetan Bhagat, they remain mystified with what actually is the role of humanities in general. 

Like in the painting, the historian is trying to watch the landscape from a distance. Such a distance helps her to focus on the main details and features of the past that she is investigating even when all details are not always present. The job of the historian is to work out macro trends through micro analysis. But as historians, we are also wary of making generalizations and hypothetical models which most other social sciences generally prefer. As Gaddis points out, our generalizations is subservient to our narrative which itself is dependent on our primary sources. For example, one can never say that the Partition of 1948 never happened. We have written documents, both official and non-official as well as oral testimonies of those who lived through that time. So obviously, as historians we have to build up the outline of the past we want to study through these sources. But it does not mean we do not use our imaginations and structural processes to wean out trends within these events. When you bring sources, say of the Partition together, it does not mean you are planning to write every detail that occurred. As we discussed earlier, that is not a possibility. First you think from what perspective do you want to understand this particular landscape. Do you want to see the political trends involved over a period of time resulting as a consequence of the event in a particular location? Do you want to bring to focus certain voices such as voices of women that are often silent in these documents? Or do you want to merge the silence/relevance of the voices mentioned in the archive to the larger politico-economic climate of the event? Then the most important question that you can ask after thinking is, what is the story that I want to tell ? How do I piece the relevant details and represent the past in a way that conveys the big picture which is equivalent to the 'Sea of Fog' in the painting. 

By representing I am not purposely creating a 'unreal' reality of the past. Instead one has to understand that there is not just one kind of truth. Gaddis puts it rightly that many kinds of truths can coexist in the same field of time and space. As humans, we may all react similarly to say, fall in price of a commodity. But it does not mean we will all react exactly the same to that phenomenon. As per Gaddis, both the linear as well as the non-linear exist simultaneously. One cannot be ignored in favor of the other. And that is why historical methodology often seems like a huge mess but it works because it's a huge mess. No one historian will look at his archives the same way. The archives will answer those questions what is asked of them. And most wonderfully, neither the questions nor the answers are ever the same. And that is why being historian is so much fun. It's like being a detective. piecing out clues to a puzzle. But the best part is that you get to piece together the puzzles the way you think makes the most sense to you. You are the star of your own show but at the same time your source materials prevent you from getting carried away in your flights of fancy. (That job is best left  to writers like Chetan Bhagat, I feel!). Really, as a historian you are both master and servant to your work. It is always a give and take.

However, because of the fluid and unique nature of historical research, it also makes it susceptible to misunderstandings and misuse. Research in history is never apolitical or ahistorical. To think that research is a neutral zone is a gross misunderstanding of the meaning of research and politics. However, when you deliberately ignore what your archive says or try to destroy those sources that reflect contrary views in order to appease a particular political motivation, then there is the misuse of history. You don't force the archives to speak to you the way you want them to. Instead they are like little pixies and fairies giving you clues on how to find you way through the enchanted forest that is the past. When you add your own predetermined answers to the archives, it shows that you have stopped listening and in effect, stopped yourself from really looking at the landscape of the past. Instead the past has been recycled to meet the needs of the political present. The historical narrative then becomes part of partisan politics and departs from its original objective which is to showcase the past in its own terms. The past then ends up being the monopoly of the present.

Gaddis blames historians for living in a methodological island and never sharing their work in a way that is accessible to the public. I would add to this and argue that the inaccessibility of academic research in history to not just the public but also to other disciplines, have allowed for certain political interests to misuse it for their convenience. It has further allowed other disciplines to label study of history as irrelevant to research. Therefore  there should be an attempt among us historians to change this status quo. What we need is a more 'activist' and 'accessible ' kind of history that also values good research methods and techniques while encouraging diversity in representations .