Slavenka & Obi: The speeches written but never given

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The speeches written but never given

History is not just a litany of all the things that happen, it is about what did not happen, about the road not taken. And sadly that history, the history of things that did not happen, is unknowable. Which is what makes it tantalising and fascinating. But there is a way to catch a glimpse of that history, to see, or maybe just to feel what it might have been like. And it lies in the archives.
In the notes for speeches written but never given.

1 comment:

parlance said...: I always remember reading about some important person who arrived in America - at the time of the French Revolution, I think - and did not land in America. What the historian thinks is that the man's wooden false teeth fell into the sea as he leaned over and he refused to get off the ship. He sailed back to Europe and we'll never know what he would have done in America.; March 31, 2013 at 6:19 AM