Your past

One of the things that really fascinates me is how people differ so much in their relationship to their past. Some people are completely uninterested in their ancestors and whatnot. But others — and not just disenfranchised minorities — are really drawn to what they consider their ethnic/racial/cultural/religious roots. And it ranges from simple historical curiosity to stringent identity politics to obsessive, off-the-wall kookiness. Horwitz encounters all types in his book, which underlines his point that history "lives" in both expected and unexpected ways.

Where do you think you fall on that spectrum of interest in your deep past?

Also, people's pride in their ancestry takes different forms. For some, it's about dignity and careful preservation and respect. But others seem to prefer showing their pride through festivals and marketing to tourists, etc. It's almost like a kind of cynical commercialism is always pawing at the door of authenticity.

Why are we so stubbornly stupid?

Did you think there was sufficient explanation in the book for WHY people are so tenaciously attached to false history? Or did Horwitz just treat it as a given that people cling to their myths — religious, historic and otherwise — even when they are demonstrated absurdities? Like it's just human nature to hold on to the first thing you were told?

I sometimes wished he would explore this phenomenon more. He touches on it when he makes comments to the effect that history is written by the winners, which in this case was white, Anglo Protestants, but I sometimes wished he would talk to a psychologist (vs. a local historian, say) to delve into this weird mental hurdle people have with perpetuating bad history.

Good and bad history

Were there incidents of "fake history" that especially stood out as something you remember learning as a kid? And did any aspects of the real history surprise you?

Horwitz's method

Did you enjoy the book?

What did you think of Horwitz's method of interspersing historic accounts with present-day treks to the sites?

Tales of the Black Freighter

What do you think is the purpose of the pirate comic that is interspersed throughout the story? How does it relate to the main narrative?

And in a related question, did you like all the extra materials between each chapter? Or did it get in the way?

God

I read a piece of a review of "Watchmen" that argued that the theme of the book was what it means to be God.

There's a quote in the book from some military guy or something after Jon's accident that says, "There is a God, and he's American." And Jon does have some godlike powers, including the ability to see and travel through time and space, survive on Mars, give Laurie some kind of force field, get disintegrated and still survive, etc.

And then we have Veidt, who is certainly playing God in his attempt to manipulate world politics by sacrificing millions of lives.

Thoughts?