Counter Story

I knew that both the history books and my community told part of a story, but neither told it all.

You need not be a sophisticated observer to recognize that history comes in many packages. In history texts, in museums, and on monuments, the public is presented with a canonized, often sanitized history. This history is usually general and, so-called, factual. The facts, however erudite, are only moderately true—for the truth of any history lies not i…