History as Mystery

302 Pages·1999·1.372 MB·English

by  Michael Parenti

History as Mystery
BOOKS BY MICHAEL PARENTI
America Besieged (1998)
Blackshirts and Reds:Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of
Communism (1997)
DirtyTruths (1996)
Against Empire (1995)
Democracy for the Few (1974,1977,1980,1983,1988,1995)
Land of Idols:Political Mythology inAmerica (1994)
Inventing Reality:The Politics of News Media (1986,1993)
Make-Believe Media:The Politics of Entertainment (1992)
The Sword and the Dollar (1989)
Power and the Powerless (1978)
Ethnic and PoliticalAttitudes (1975)
Trends andTragedies inAmerican Foreign Policy (1971)
TheAnti-Communist Impulse (1969)
History as Mystery
Michael Parenti
CITY LIGHTS BOOKS
San Francisco
Copyright©1999byMichaelParenti
AllRightsReserved
1098765432
Coverdesign:JohnMiller,BigFish
Bookdesign:NancyJ.Peters
Typography:HarvestGraphics
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Parenti,Michael,1933–
Historyasmystery/byMichaelParenti.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN0-87286-357-3(pbk.).—ISBN0-87286-364-6(cloth)
1. Historiography. 2. History—Errors,inventions,etc.
I. Title.
D13.P35 1999
907'.2—dc21 99-34698
CIP
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Acknowledgments
Gary Aguilar, Charles Briody, Lauren Coodley, Charlotte
Dennett, Elazar Friedman, Leonard Pitt, Sally Soriano,Vincent
Sauvé,andmysonChristianParentifurnishedmewithpertinent
materials, as did the reference staff at the Berkeley (California)
PublicLibrary.
PeggyKarpcritiquedthemanuscriptandalsoprovidedvalu-
ableresearchassistanceforchaptersix.NancyJ.Petersalsodid
a critical reading of these pages. And Beth Garber and Holly
Earl rendered additional valuable service. June Felter took the
photographofmethatappearsonthebookcover(aspartofher
MenInHatsseries).Ioweallthesefinepeopleanexpressionof
gratitude.

To the memory of Judi Bari
Quia induit me vestimentis salutis
et indumento justitiae circumdedit me
For he has adorned me in salvation
And wrapped me in a mantle of Justice
In my own country
amnesia is the norm,
the schools teach us
to unremember from birth,
the slave taking,the risings up,
the songs of resistance,
the first May first,
our martyrs from Haymarket
toAttica to the redwoods of California
ripped whole from our hearts,
erased from official memory ...
—JohnRoss,“AgainstAmnesia”

Contents
Prologue: Against the Mainstream xi
1 History as Miseducation 1
Mainstream Orthodoxy 1
The Hunt for Real History 6
Textbooks:America the Beautiful 11
For Business,Against Labor 17
The School as aTool 22
2 Priests and Pagans, Saints
and Slaves 35
Triumph of the OneTrue Faith 35
Silencing the Pagans 45
Accepting the Powers that Be 47
Affluent Believers 54
Saints For Slavery 62
3 Bishops and Barbarians, Jezebels
and Jews 77
The Myth of the Devout Peasant 77
The Curse of Eve 83
The Burning of Books 95
Preparing the Holocaust 103
4 History in the Faking 129
Suppression at the Point of Origin 129
ColdWar in theArchives 137