--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I wrote a work of history, I looked at…" description: "\"I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources - I spent three-and-a-half years on the project. I think the most gratifying and wonderful thin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e9/dana-goldstein-18041_history_i-wrote-a-work-of-history-i-looked-at-ov_194936.jpg" --- # I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources… ![“I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources - I spent three-and-a-half years on the project. I think the most gratifying and wonderful thing about the reaction is that people are learning things from the history that feel relevant to today.” quote by Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e9/dana-goldstein-18041_history_i-wrote-a-work-of-history-i-looked-at-ov_194936.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e9/dana-goldstein-18041_history_i-wrote-a-work-of-history-i-looked-at-ov_194936.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e9/dana-goldstein-18041_history_i-wrote-a-work-of-history-i-looked-at-ov_194936.jpg) > “I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources - I spent three-and-a-half years on the project. I think the most gratifying and wonderful thing about the reaction is that people are learning things from the history that feel relevant to today.” [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Extensive research yields insights that connect past events to present relevance, enriching public understanding. **In simple terms:** Research makes history relevant today. Key Takeaway Seek connections between past and present. Themes history research relevance Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type academic educational When to use this quote - education - policy making - media reporting Key Concepts methodology public discourse Questions to Reflect On - What historical lessons apply to your life? - How can scholars make history more engaging? A Different Perspective Time‑intensive research may limit accessibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [500 Sources](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/500-sources-2049566/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-feel-695636/) [History Looked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-looked-2049565/) [Over 50](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/over-50/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Relevant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relevant/) [Think Gratifying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-gratifying-1671974/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today/) [Wonderful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonderful/) [Wrote Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrote-work-2049567/) ## Related quotes > [Whenever you do something that's original, not based on a comic book or a novel or an old movie or a franchise, you definitely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-gough/whenever-you-do-something-that-s-original-not-based-on-a-comic-book/) [Alfred Gough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-gough/) > [If you look at the whole thing, I think the most gratifying thing is my kids, without a doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-lucid/if-you-look-at-the-whole-thing-i-think-the-most-gratifying-thing-is/) [Shannon Lucid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-lucid/) > [8H has such an epic, storied history. You can feel that when you're in there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikey-day/8h-has-such-an-epic-storied-history-you-can-feel-that-when-you-re-in/) [Mikey Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikey-day/) > [The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history but honest and inclusive history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-w-loewen/the-antidote-to-feel-good-history-is-not-feel-bad-history-but-honest/) [James W. Loewen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-w-loewen/) > [“Anyone who manages to experience the history of humanity as a whole as his own history will feel in an enormously generalized way all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/anyone-who-manages-to-experience-the-history-of-humanity-as-a-whole/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [You see, when you're middle class, you have to live with the fact that history will ignore you. You have to live with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/you-see-when-you-re-middle-class-you-have-to-live-with-the-fact-that/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [“He supposed he was fascinated by that commonplace sense of history that anyone can feel glancing through the fresh news of ten or twenty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/he-supposed-he-was-fascinated-by-that-commonplace-sense-of-history/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [It's always fun going to Wrigley. There's so much history there. You can feel it every time you watch a game or play there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-fried/it-s-always-fun-going-to-wrigley-there-s-so-much-history-there-you/) [Max Fried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-fried/) > [Everyday I look back at my history and feel regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-hus/everyday-i-look-back-at-my-history-and-feel-regret/) [J Hus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-hus/) > [To me, British fashion has a story. It has history, and I feel it's very much about our culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-ora/to-me-british-fashion-has-a-story-it-has-history-and-i-feel-it-s-very/) [Rita Ora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-ora/) > [There's such a history, and to be here, and to feel that, is really amazing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-davis/there-s-such-a-history-and-to-be-here-and-to-feel-that-is-really/) [Kristin Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-davis/) > [Even though you've been over the person you were once in love with, you feel like you don't need them anymore, but they stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/habeebah-kanoorbee/even-though-you-ve-been-over-the-person-you-were-once-in-love-with/) [Habeebah(Kanoorbee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/habeebah-kanoorbee/) > [I love my people's history. I feel a huge responsibility to tell the stories of my past and my ancestors' past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-nottage/i-love-my-people-s-history-i-feel-a-huge-responsibility-to-tell-the/) [Lynn Nottage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-nottage/) > [“The United States is a conceited nation with shallow roots, and what happened before living memory doesn't seem to interest most people I know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-weber/the-united-states-is-a-conceited-nation-with-shallow-roots-and-what/) [Katharine Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-weber/) > [“How soon, indeed, are human things forgotten! As we meet here this morning, the Southern sun is shining on their place of burial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/how-soon-indeed-are-human-things-forgotten-as-we-meet-here-this/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## More by Dana Goldstein > [In North Carolina, for example, it takes 15 years to move a teacher's salary from $30,000 to $40,000. So it's really difficult to argue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/in-north-carolina-for-example-it-takes-15-years-to-move-a-teacher-s/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [There's a small movement of teacher-led schools across the country. These are schools that don't have a traditional principal, teachers come together and actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/there-s-a-small-movement-of-teacher-led-schools-across-the-country/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Just in general, when we look at our school system, there is so much overlap with our criminal justice system in terms of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/just-in-general-when-we-look-at-our-school-system-there-is-so-much/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [I don't think school reform should be motivated by missionary zeal. I think it should be motivated by evidence of what works. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/i-don-t-think-school-reform-should-be-motivated-by-missionary-zeal-i/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Younger teachers are definitely more likely to have worked at charter schools as opposed to have just heard of them. Charter schools explicitly look,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/younger-teachers-are-definitely-more-likely-to-have-worked-at-charter/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [“In 1899 the Supreme Court ruled in Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education that Augusta, Georgia, had not defied the Constitution by shutting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/in-1899-the-supreme-court-ruled-in-cumming-v-richmond-county-board-of/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Men are more salary-sensitive when they're choosing a job.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/men-are-more-salary-sensitive-when-they-re-choosing-a-job/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Definitely we see throughout history that American teachers are asked to be very self-abnegating. They're not supposed to be concerned with the conditions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/definitely-we-see-throughout-history-that-american-teachers-are-asked/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [The first generation of school reformers I talk about - nineteenth century education reformer Horace Mann, Catharine Beecher - they are true believers in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/the-first-generation-of-school-reformers-i-talk-about-nineteenth/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Younger teachers are definitely more likely to have worked at charter schools as opposed to have just heard of them. Charter schools explicitly look,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/younger-teachers-are-definitely-more-likely-to-have-worked-at-charter-2/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [If you're afraid to talk to the other adults in your school it is definitely throughout history the hallmark of a failing school. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/if-you-re-afraid-to-talk-to-the-other-adults-in-your-school-it-is/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [There are a lot of polls that show that actually Americans have a pretty high opinion of teachers, that Americans think teachers are just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/there-are-a-lot-of-polls-that-show-that-actually-americans-have-a/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [Coming to the civil rights movement in the twentieth century, we begin to have this idea that's still with us today, which is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/coming-to-the-civil-rights-movement-in-the-twentieth-century-we-begin/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [The idea that because the school day is shorter or the school year is shorter than the sort of white collar workday or work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/the-idea-that-because-the-school-day-is-shorter-or-the-school-year-is/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) > [There's definitely a tension between the way teaching is talked about and understood at the political level and how everyday average Americans think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goldstein/there-s-definitely-a-tension-between-the-way-teaching-is-talked-about/) [Dana Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) [Explore all 35 Dana Goldstein quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goldstein/) ## More History quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/) [Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/) > [The NBA is my history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-hardaway/the-nba-is-my-history/) [Penny Hardaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-hardaway/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Things live and die, and then someone processes them into edible portions. This is a complete telling of the story, 'Food.' The basic plot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-fahrenthold/things-live-and-die-and-then-someone-processes-them-into-edible/) [David Fahrenthold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-fahrenthold/) > [History is a certain way, but you just change the point of view a little bit, and you discover a whole new side of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-schroeder/history-is-a-certain-way-but-you-just-change-the-point-of-view-a/) [Allison Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-schroeder/) > [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Today is a reality, tomorrow's a promise, and yesterday's history!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-blanks/today-is-a-reality-tomorrow-s-a-promise-and-yesterday-s-history/) [Billy Blanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-blanks/) > [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/) [C-DASH](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-dash/) > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [“To those great geniuses now in petticoats, who shall write novels for the beloved reader's children, these men and things will be as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/to-those-great-geniuses-now-in-petticoats-who-shall-write-novels-for/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) [Browse all 27,263 History quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I wrote a work of history, I looked at over 500 sources - I spent three-and-a-half years on the project. 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