Gunnar answers Trevor on Writers and Re-Writers of the 1st Millennium
Gunnar Heinsohn at Quantavolution Conference, Naxos, 2012
Trevor Palmer's Writers and Re-Writers of First Millennium History gives his summary – diligently assembled over many years – of the historiography found in textbooks on the first millennium AD. How can I express a maximum of respect for his achievement? I can assure Palmer that from my entry into grammar school in 1953 until 2013 I not only learned that very historiography for my exams, but literally devoured it. Since 1973, I have used many of these doctrines in the context of different subjects – war history, moral history, history of money, history of contraception – to write my own books...
Although Palmer does not owe me any repetition of accepted wisdom, I am grateful that he continues to try. I know that my 60 years of faithfulness to much of mainstream teaching will not satisfy him. Unfortunately, however, I cannot promise eternal loyalty to mainstream history.
