Comparing one’s own country’s war history to the enemy’s version changes the historical understanding

Evidence

My main subject of interest, however, was history. I had always been greatly attracted to this subject, and even as a child I had a curious desire to know the history of the other side. In England, when I was at primary school, history basically meant English history, and for a long time this, as taught at that level, consisted largely of wars with the French. From this, I developed a curiosity about French history and asked my father to get me a history of France—in English, of course. He did so, and I was able to consider the history of the Anglo-French wars from both sides. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 68

Categorization

• XREF: Reads against the ‘history from the other side’ impulse that animates Said’s critique of Western historiography of the East — the same desire to hear the native voice, but here aimed at Europe’s internal others.