i agree, history as we know it, is almost worthless bunch of faerytales.
and not just some of it / all of it.
im working with few more colleagues on study about what happened in single day of february 1942. near my area. and its about many years of research, diggin through archives, interviewing witnesses who were still alive, and talking with relatives of those who died.
there was around 2.300 people massacred in their homes, 500 kids among them, one whole class is killed in school. and they re not killed with firearms.
so,after all that work and research, i wouldnt dare to say that i know what happened that day. i have more unanswered questions than answered ones.
and yet, i see people discussing or even writing essays about intentions, feelings and deep thoughts of 15 century leaders... about what were Soviets afraid of. What Romans expected...
Most relevant history we can get is personal experiences of old people, narrowed to individual perspective and blurred by time. Fragments. Cant find any better than that.
its always funny when i hear someone want to see the whole picture / by reading second opinion :D
Unfortunately, yes, the best way we have to learn history is from those people who know that they will not lie to us to manipulate us, and that they were not manipulated either, because they lived it.
All the other history is just what is supposed to happen, it is likely that 90% of that information is incorrect, but it does not matter, that is what is supposed to happen and is what we know.