To impose the understandings of today on the people of yesterday is not an act of revision, it is an act of deception.
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Presentism abounds in modern historical writing. An article at the American Historical Association web-site details some of the negative consequences of Presentism. Perhaps the best work covering this, and other, distortions is Gordon S. Wood’s Pulitzer Prize winning book “The Purpose of The Past.” I recommend that anyone with an interest in history read this book.
History Present 