<<(In a side note, it's interesting that
we've gotten away from focusing on "Great Men" in
quizbowl science, but not in quizbowl
history>>
Interesting indeed, Joe, but I think there's a fundamental
difference between science biography and history biography
-- science biography is simply not "science", while
historical biography (if well written) is the history of
some supposedly important figure.
I'm not a
historian, so I can't speak to the "Great Men" approach,
cultural myth, or current history theory. However, from a
QB angle, we need accessible questions, and
biography will generally always be more
accessible/memorable/writable than ideas, movements, etc. Beyond that, it's
hard to argue that a tossup on someone like James
Monroe, Saladin, or Clara Barton isn't history.
If
you want to argue against the old "Born in YEAR, he
was the son of a OBSCURE TRADESMAN and went to SCHOOL
..." prefab biography question, I'm totally with you.
Biography questions, no matter where they fit in the
distribution, should at least be relevant to the subject's
importance.
Doing my part to get on-topic ...
-- eps