Americans, it is often said, know very little about history, their own or anyone else's. In a collegiate environment where business is the leading major in all institutions of higher education (with second place not even in sight), it feels like Henry Ford's aphorism "History is bunk" is what passes for awareness of the past. But now — very unexpectedly — there have been numerous, audacious, and heartwarming acts of violence directed at public statuary, mostly in the South, and all in support of the cause of better historical understanding.
I enjoyed reading history from an early age. I have continued to broaden and deepen my appreciation of history up to the present time, and I benefit, always, from historians who reevaluate, reconsider, and upend the way individuals or whole eras are understood. Growing up in Santa Barbara, the teaching of history in public schools was generally good. However, instruction of California history was still bathed in the golden lie of a romantic past; an endless fiesta watched over by kindly padres. It was only when I discovered the work of Carey McWilliams that I really began to learn about California history. I was shocked by McWilliams's insistence that the California mission system killed Indians with the efficiency of Nazis running concentration camps.
I began writing Santa Barbara history in the 1970s. There had been local historians for some time, notably Walker Tompkins, long associated with Tom Storke and the News-Press. Much of Tompkins's work was quite good, but it was obvious that there were a range of topics that were never mentioned, that were too controversial or reflected badly on the city.