Seeing The Falsehood of World History from the Opposite Point of View

The Lies That Have Deceived the World

Lee Jong-Ho

288 pages, 8,500 won, Ddeyin Dol.

Great Feuds in History: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever

Colin Evans, Lee Jong-In trans.

388 pages, 15,000 won, Imago.

The fight between Queen Consort Munjung and Kyung Bin has finished the former`s complete victory. Munjung`s side successfully falsified the `Incident of Jakshu,` the case of hanging a smoked rat in the prince`s palace, as an act of Kyung Bin.

`Confrontation` and `lie` always exist even in a TV historical drama that holds the people`s eyes and ears. If one reexamines the entire world history, how many rivals and fabrications will be found.

`The Lies That Have Deceived the World` categorizes the falsehoods as three: deceits against the enemies of the time, deceits against one`s age, and historical mistakes that deceive the present readers.

A clear example of the first case is the Normandie landing operations during the World War II. The Allied Powers made a feint operation that, while they bombed and made a noisy through speakers in a different place, they moved military powers to Normandie. An example of the second case is the `Piltdown Hoax,` which combined a primitive man`s skull and an orangutan`s jaw. Having been deceived many scholars for 40 years, it was turned out as a forgery after the introduction of the fluorine test in1950s.

A vivid example of the `historical deceptions,` which still deceive the present readers, is the `trial of Galilei.` The Church was not hostile to the heliocentric theory unlike it has been known. It just asked a scientific evidence to Galilei, and he refused the request. Therefore, he was punished by the Church. ¡°Epur si muove,¡° (And yet it does move), the apocryphal words attributed to Galilei, makes the historians who are seeking for the truth really angry.

`Great Feuds in History: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever` deals with ten great disputes of the world, such as Elizabeth I versus Mary, Stalin versus Trotsky, and Amundsen versus Scott.

Was Amundsen really the final winner of the polar expedition? There is no doubt that Scott`s reckless plan dedided the result of his expedition and life. However, his `record of failure,` which is full of literary impression, moved British people and influenced on the result of the World War I. On the other hand, Amundsen has suffered by a guilty feeling that, `I might had helped Scott and saved his life,` for his life time.

Yoon-Jong Yoo gustav@donga.com