TOBY SHAPSHAK: How to teach the past in the present
History is important, but so is how it is taught. In this Internet age, education methods need to keep pace
In his epic account of the battle of Isandlwana, the great orator David Rattray asked: "Why is there so much interest in the Anglo Zulu war of 1879? "Why is it that so much has been written about this insignificant campaign fought in an economically insignificant territory adjacent to an almost irrelevant British colony?" About 15 years ago I came across Rattray’s five-CD set, containing his narration of this battle, and listened to it in one go. It was mesmerising. "The 22nd of January 1879 reads like a Shakespearean tragedy. "It opens with the disaster at Isandlwana and closes with the restoration of British military honour at Rorke’s Drift," Rattray said, adding that more Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions at Rorke’s Drift than at any other battle in history. "The battle of Isandlwana constituted the greatest defeat that Britain was ever to suffer in her entire colonial history," he intoned in that marvellous voice of his, adding that the war contributed to the downfall of...
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