Table of ContentsWhat is History?The Importance of Understanding HistoryWorks Cited:What is History?Many important steps lead to the conclusion that all history is an interpretation. Because history is a record of what happened in the past, we cannot know anything other than what was recorded. So, in reality, the only true factual story is what the witness to an event writes or says. This is called the first hand. However, as only an infinitesimal amount of history has actually been recorded, this leaves historians to guess and write down their interpretation. This proves that all the history textbooks we read are just interpretations of real events. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Another step that led to the conclusion that all history is an interpretation is the fact that when historians write textbooks, only a limited number of facts can be written. At least a fraction, if not a large part of the real information is excluded. A historian's view of what is important and what is not is also considered an interpretation. If factual information is omitted, it cannot constitute the account of the actual event. On the contrary, if a historian writes all the facts in one book, it will not sell. The final piece of evidence for the whole story being the interpretations given by the book are the different points of view. There are many books based on history and some of them may be biased. For example, a Republican author of a book based on politics may try not to embrace the Republican side of politics, but that is what he believes in and he may well unconsciously lean to the Republican side. A biased book is an interpretation from only one point of view. The reliability of such a book is considerably low. The reason we shouldn't just look up the definition of something is because even what the dictionary says could be an interpretation. Dictionaries are also written by humans and therefore are also likely to be interpretations. A dictionary is also just one source among many. Instead of just seeking out certain viewpoints, many viewpoints should be compiled and taught. In addition to looking for possible biases in an author, historians can use other useful techniques when reading or writing history using numerous sources. When writing history, using different perspectives can encourage writing an article or book without bias. When reading history, using multiple sources can help get a better idea of ​​what really happened, preventing the historian from having a biased idea. Another benefit of using multiple sources would be to have a much stronger opinion, after reading many viewpoints. Although reading more than one source may take longer, it will be mitigated by biases. If history is only interpretation, the ultimate goal of work in a history class should be to find the truth. The story is like an enigmatic puzzle except that there are missing pieces. Interpretations are just what others think the missing pieces look like. The goal of a historian is to find the truth or the rest of the missing pieces. Of course, this arduous task cannot be accomplished overnight or by one person, but by a union of historians. The importance of understanding history Understanding.