David Mountain’s ‘Past Mistakes’ for the history novice

“Ancient Greece proved so popular partly because it could be different things to different people.” 

I usually choose pieces to review where I can balance some objectivity with personal interest. Usually, this means I am 50-70% interested in its topic. This pendulum was off with David Mountain’s Past Mistakes. Mountain’s intent to talk about how historical ‘mistakes’ feed into public consciousness felt in tune with my pre-existing anxieties around depictions and consumption of the past.  I fell into an obsessive read hopeful for a crossover between my line of thinking and his promise to reveal the ins-and-outs of historical mythmaking. 

Past Mistakes takes a chronological approach from ‘pre-history’ in chapter one travelling through antiquity, middle ages and modernity in subsequent chapters. Outside of reader ease, there isn’t much reason for this linear approach. The focus is thematic. Using a different case study each chapter, Mountain unpacks the survival of historical narratives. He presents a well-known historical moment then suddenly diverts, pulling back the curtains. The Wild West? A Hollywood fantasy. Your country’s history? Probably nationalist propaganda.   

Countering fiction with fact, Mountain argues history is known through a myriad of biases. He states early that ‘collective colour blindness’ to the past shields us from ‘an eye-watering kaleidoscope of colour’ that defies ‘sterilised scholasticism.‘ Yet, this encouragement fades as the book progresses and Mountain pushes academic approaches over experimental ones. He wants moderation and peer review to disable dogmatism and conspiracy theories.  

Mountain’s clear voice escapes the raspy dryness history writing is known for and he hones in on racial and class biases in the study of history while respecting the discipline’s specialist nature. He distils his research into easy-to-digest concepts with humour and organises entertaining yet truthful narratives. There is something measured and self-assured about his writing – it’s conversational without losing critical edge. With this, Past Mistakes could be an asset for a high school student or a history novice.  

But since he presents nothing new history-wise, there’s potential for boredom between “Ooh that’s interesting!” moments. Each chapter, analysis comes after a drawn-out John Green Crash Course–like spiel, leaving desire for more of a historiography focus. After all, we know the Dark Ages weren’t ‘dark’ and that Columbus was a dickhead. It’s wasted energy as these corrected histories are already accepted. By mapping out factual aspects of the past and where they became muddied, he is distracted by facts instead of arguing how and why ignorance persists in the first place.  

There is one exception to this: in a later chapter, he looks at the Crystal Skulls (supposed ancient South American artefacts holding supernatural powers) to discuss pseudoarcheology and lead into a larger conversation around fake news and alternative facts. It is less about telling the reader the Crystal Skulls are likely fraudulent than it is about using them to talk about the extent of damage anti-science, anti-intellectual attitudes can have on the common good and public knowledge. Following this example, the book would have been stronger if chapters studied forms of historical malpractice, rather than focusing on case studies in and of themselves.  

I might be misunderstanding Mountain’s approach. Maybe, he thought his readers didn’t know these things and wants to correct and teach them a lesson.  “When we abandon an evidence-based approach to history,” he says late in the book, “our understanding of the past is liable to become skewed.” Most of the dogmatic narratives he describes are no longer upheld by historians but still infiltrate public opinion.  Perhaps, he writes to the layperson who can’t access academic enquiry and holds onto misunderstandings of the part. In this context, Past Mistakes is useful for those whose head is lost in present political, religious and social climates. 

In this way, Past Mistakes is a guide to thinking about history and an exercise in challenging stereotypes.  For progressive thinkers, it crystalises pre-existing ideas around the exclusion of women and BIPOC from historical narratives. For conservatives, it might prove a challenge. Mountain constantly reiterates the danger of using the past as nationalist fodder by creating feel-good myths about one’s country and justifying mistreatment of others. Saying that, these people probably don’t want to be told to be less enthusiastic about their vision of the past and more academically honest (some early reviews called this book controversial when it is anything but). “Facts are forced to fit the story, and discarded if they can’t be bent into shape,” Mountain says. This is important and true, but I wonder if he is preaching to the choir, on one hand, and falling on deaf ears, on the other.  

Past Mistakes is a crisp reminder to step beyond easily accessible narratives and stay objective when viewing the past. The work succeeds in exemplifying how inaccurate beliefs continue to be entrenched – society clings to tidy, heroic, decisive (and divisive) tales when the truth is far more complex and ambiguous. But the analysis of this becomes lost as he casts a wide net of facts and anecdotes before circling back to the point. It would have been juicer to spend time critiquing trends of incorrectly attributed histories and their continued perpetuation. Providing so much evidence to garner trust from the reader was somewhat unwarranted.  

Don’t get me wrong – I recommend this book. I ate it up. There’s nothing offensive or low quality about it. For the purpose of this review, I am considering different reader expectations. I read to stretch my web of values in unexpected ways. Having a degree in it, I may be overzealous in reading about history. With Past Mistakes, I found the fun facts distracting with the brief analysis unfulfilling; I had a leisurely time revisiting known ideas and values without the ability to grow them.  

Book review by Tahney Fosdike

 –

David Mountain / Past Mistakes / Icon Books / Pub Date 05 Nov 2020 /ISBN 9781785786624
–

Purchase from Melbourne-based booksellers: Readings

If you can’t find a local bookseller, here are some online retailers: Booktopia / Book Depository