Whether I like it or not, most of my images of what various historical periods feel, smell, or sound like were acquired well before I set foot in any history class. They came from Margaret Mitchell, from Anya Seton, from M.M. Kaye, and a host of other authors, in their crackly plastic library bindings. Whether historians acknowledge it or not, scholarly history’s illegitimate cousin, the historical novel, plays a profound role in shaping widely held conceptions of historical realities. . Lauren Willig
About This Quote

The idea that the reality of the past is shaped by what you read or watch is quite true. Someone who lives in a time period will have different thoughts on events happening in the world. This is due to how they are exposed to media since the late nineteenth century. With television, movies, music, and books being introduced to people, they are able to gain more knowledge on the past. The idea of this quote is that someone who does not live through an event will not be able to understand it fully because there was no way for them to experience it first hand.

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