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Originally Posted by issybird
As a practical matter, as has been suggested, I think there's a lot of value in popular history as an introduction, as a gateway, as something to pique one's interest. I like academic history myself, but I'm not necessarily going to want to dive into one as my introduction to a subject. And sometimes, the "popular" version is enough. One can't be an expert on everything.
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I think popular history serves a very important role. NOT everyone needs to be an academic expert on everything. But the more people understand history, the better chance we have to avoid repeating it. (GMOs, nanobeads, etc, come to mind, where the effects are not clearly understood but we've jumped in regardless.) Beyond that, I thought this example of popular history was less well written than a recent selection of the former MR Book Club --
Hidden Figures. Of course, Margot Lee Shetterly had access to more in the way of primary sources. But both served an important role in helping us to understand a not well understood but important role women played in our lives today.