The Strange Death Of Silas Deane Summary

When Silas Deane boarded the ship that would take him back to America he was not expecting it to be the cause of his demise. Formerly the American attaché to France during the Revolutionary War, Deane was ousted from his position when it was revealed he was selling secrets to the English. Not having anywhere else to go, Deane lived in Belgium for a time until he went to England. Eventually he saw it safe enough to make the trip to America, and not be prosecuted for his wrongdoings that occurred during the Revolutionary War. Whether he would be truly accepted back into the United States or not, it would never be found out due to Deane’s mysterious death on the passage over to the United States. Deane’s death on the surface appears to be a suicide, but if looked at closely it could have been a murder. Silas Deane was most murdered by Edward Bancroft because of Bancroft’s motive, Bancroft’s knowledge of poisons, and the lack of evidence found to

In The Death of History is Bunk, Patrick Watson argues that the decrease of historical content in the curriculum does not indicate that history, as a subject, is declining. While many complain about the decreasing prominence of history classes in Canadian schools, the content of those classes is excessively dull as it consists of memorizing lists of facts. Despite this, there are still protests that knowledge of “defining events” is required to contribute to “the National Conversation”. However, history is not so simple as a list of events—it is the sum of the small happenings in society around the events. A whole variety of factors influence history, which is created by the common people. Unlike Americans, who turn to their constitution for

Throughout this course, we have learned different approaches and techniques regarding therapy and counseling. More so, multiple of these techniques are used to develop a plan for the benefit of the patient. Love’s Executioner (1989), written by Irvin D. Yalom, was a documentation of the relationship and interactions between Thelma and himself. Throughout the treatment, he used a variety of helping skills and approaches to attempt to breakthrough her within six months. Thelma’s reason for coming into therapy was that she was emotionally distressed based on a past experience. She perceived to be hopelessly in love with an old therapist of hers, Matthew. This “love” was more than an emotion felt and since it was not reciprocated, it was merely an obsession of the twenty-seven days she spent with Matthew. Through the course of this interaction, Yalom used a psychoanalytic orientation

Throughout history, historians have spun events in order to alter and adjust others’ views on the event. This is especially true during Colonial times and the time leading up the American Revolution. During this time, information about the colonist’s events was passed on through word of mouth. One such man that was notorious for this was George Robert Twelves Hewes. Hewes was a Boston shoemaker, who at the age of twenty-eight witnessed four of his closest friends shot to death by The British red coats; he also participated in many of the key events of the Revolutionary crisis.1 Hewes recollections of the events that took place were passed along in the monograph The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution by Alfred

The world is full of rich culture, diversity and experiences unique to each individual. When determining the validity of historic accounts we must factor in that particular historian’s point of view, which should be characterized by ethnicity, idealogy, theoretical or methodological preference. With these factors views of the past often vary from person to person. In this essay I will be discussing the four different stages that shaped the writing of American history over the last 400 years.

Jill Lepore was born in a small town outside of Worcester, Massachusetts. Lepore claims she wanted to be a writer from a young age and had no aspiration or inclination to become a historian. Lepore received her B.A from Tufts University, then got her M.A. at Michigan University, following after she earned her Ph.D. at Yale University. “History is the art of making an argument about the past by telling a story accountable to evidence”, she says. For her to write a story about history with only evidence as her core material, it is truly amazing. Lepore has won many awards and honors with great essays, reports, and books. As I have looked into her background,

(An analysis of how the authors Hughes, Clifton and McElroy and how they use history in their works.)

The idea of the exclusion of important narratives is a common theme amongst many of the historians involved in the discussion. The omission of such narratives would only stand to present an unfinished version of history from which one cannot grasp the lessons history intends to teach. Catherine Emerson would be the first to

In Telling the Truth About History, three historians discuss how the expanded skepticism and the position that relativism has reduced our capacity to really know and to expound on the past. The book talks about the written work of history and how individuals are battling with the issues of what is “truth.” It likewise examines the post-modernist development and how future historians

“The Strange Death of Silas Deane” by James West Davison and Mark Hamilton Lytle creates a new perspective on what people see history as. Although many people would define history as something that happened in the past, through “The Strange Death of Silas Deane”, the authors demonstrate that this everyday view on history can be profoundly misleading.

History is often said to be “what has happened in the past,” and a historian’s job is to bring that information back, without distorting it. This undistorted passing of history is often times may not always be achieved, and the story of the death of Silas Deane is a great example of that

Silas Deane, a second-rank diplomat for the United States during the American Revolution, had a very interesting and mysterious life. He went from rags-to-riches right back down to rags in a matter of years. His only “faithful’ friend was Edward Bancroft, a spy. They worked together for a long time, until in 1789 Deane finally decided to travel back to the states. While the ship was waiting out the storm, Deane reported symptoms of illness and suddenly fell dead only four hours after his symptoms. Although some historians believe that Silas Deane committed suicide, it is without a doubt that Edward Bancroft murdered Deane. Deane could not have not committed suicide, for he was not depressed, Bancroft was nervous that Deane would expose his

Davis does not connect her assumptions to accurate history data and opposes Coras’s perspective of the trial. Therefore, Finlay’s argument against Davis’ perspective is more convincing, because he does not speculate or back up his points with non historical context, unlike Davis who uses “convoluted reasoning and unsubstantiated assertions” to support her thesis.

In the article “Young Soldier Both Revered and Reviled” (October 4, 2010), William Yardley, a reporter for The New York Times, explains that the case of Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, who was accused of cutting off fingers of the men he killed at war, has two sides. Yardley lists the ways in that Gibbs was seen as a guilty savage, and the way Gibbs was seen as innocent. He wrote this article in order to inform readers about how Gibbs can be seen as guilty, but also not guilty, and for those interested in finding out more about the case. Yardley’s audience appears to be anyone interested in following the case of Calvin Gibbs.

What is History? This is the question posed by historian E.H. Carr in his study of historiography. Carr debates the ongoing argument which historians have challenged for years, on the possibility that history could be neutral. In his book he discusses the link between historical facts and the historians themselves. Carr argues that history cannot be objective or unbiased, as for it to become history, knowledge of the past has been processed by the historian through interpretation and evaluation. He argues that it is the necessary interpretations which mean personal biases whether intentional or not, define what we see as history. A main point of the chapter is that historians select the facts they think are significant which ultimately