On October 19, 2009, the featured article on the Main page is James Bowie who was famous for his Knife fight in the history of United States of America. I am always interested in the articles related to American history because it form the part of my professional duty as a teacher. I found this article more significant because it had helped me to get an authentication and evidence for a statement which had been regularly made by the historians on American history. I had been reading about the westward movement of the Americans. I was not able to convince myself that how that had happened. There were only assertions that Americans kept moving towards west. But How? I have never found any convincing explanation. However, in this article, I have found a paragraph which gives historic account on how the senior Bowie kept moving after every five to eight years from one plantation to other plantation buying and selling and making profit every time. I now need a authentication of this information as there is no citation. I do not know whether those who have written it had the perception that they would be explaining and describing one of an important point in American history. I do not think so. I have made a note of this article and going to borrow the references about the practices adopted by people who were moving westward during the Antebellum Period of American history.
This article also shows the gap in writing of history. Herein, there is another case which demonstrates that the psychological profiling of the period and personality which is described is must for history writing. The Ranke school of historians would be happy to find such articles wherein only the mater of fact content is given and the content as a whole conveys the meaning. However, it is not that simple. I had a question. I was not satisfied with the reading of American history wherein mere facts that Americans moved towards west was given and repeated again and again without elucidation. I wanted to read and learn about those forces and the processes that went along with them. The question was with me. If any other casual reader read this article, he may not able to appreciate the significance of the data provided in there. On the other hand, if the author of the article just hinted at the dimension which could also be derived from here, then it could have been a more fruitful exercise. Anyhow, I understand that my argument will be rejected as a matter of one's opinion.
If interested then read the whole article. There are interesting details especially about speculation and high level manipulation which is presently called the Business. Also read the discussion section. There is heading about the actual pronunciation of the word 'Bowie'. Anyhow, as the Mumbaiya Mafia world or Ram Gopal writers would say, Ganda Hai per Dhanda hai. It is dirty but it's a business.
Image Source: In the link given above
