Going West

John O’Sullivan

THE claim that history is written by the victors is a half-truth at best. Almost no historic achievement by dead white males is secure against academic revision. And though the victors in the Second World War and the American Revolution may have won the arguments as well as the wars, the losers in the Spanish Civil War and the 1988 presidential election have carried the decisive battles of interpretation. Belloc’s principle still applies—Whatever happens, we have got/The Maxim gun, and they have not, except that the Macintosh substitutes for the Maxim in these battles.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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John O’Sullivan

THE claim that history is written by the victors is a half-truth at best. Almost no historic achievement by dead white males is secure against academic revision. And though the victors in the Second World War and the American Revolution may have won the arguments as well as the wars, the losers in the Spanish Civil War and the 1988 presidential election have carried the decisive battles of interpretation. Belloc’s principle still applies—Whatever happens, we have got/The Maxim gun, and they have not, except that the Macintosh substitutes for the Maxim in these battles.