Interpreting the Past - Slate's History Week

Of interest to all (though they probably don't need a plug from my little site), this week is Slate's History Week. A good place to start would be American History 101, a dialogue between Diane Ravitch of New York University, history curriculum advisor (she was primary writer for the California History/Social Science Framework adopted by the State Board of Education in 1988) and author of The Language Police and Jon Wiener of the University of California, Irvine, a contributing editor of the Nation, and is the author, most recently, of Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower. Here is Part 2 of their debate and so far both bring up good points. However, I must note that Wiener seems especially inclined to associate history with contemporary politics. Tsk, Tsk.