General Reading Note: Bios/Intros...

It should be pretty obvious after 3 (make that 4 quizzes after tonight) that the biographical information about the authors, speakers, or historical figures is JUST as important, if not more so, than the literature. 

In my re-readings of the literature/ biographies, I have found several questionable things Norton says about these people (white/ native--alike), or if you read simply the literature, you might not get a full historically accurate portrayal of the individual (ie: Hernán Cortés). We read, saw, and heard that he was much more violent historically than you might have inferred simply by reading the Norton provided journal sample. 

Therefore, I am stressing to you to read the intros/ bios, even if that historical aspect of it seems dry to you! 

That "quote"/maxim historically is even attributed to many different people!!!

Of cowards no history is written. 
- proverb 
@Cited in `The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs' Compiled by Rosalind Fergusson 

History is the propaganda of the victors. 
- Ernst Toller (1893-1939) 
@Quoted in Claud Coburn `In Time of Trouble' 

History is written by the survivors. 
- Max Lerner (1902-1992) 
@Quoted in `Saturday Review' (1944) 
@Cited in `Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations' Microsoft CD 

History is written by the winners. 
- Alex Haley 
@(1972) cited in `My Soul Looks Back, 'Less I Forget. A Collection of Quotations by People of Color.' by Dorothy Winbush Riley 
@Cited in `Crisp Toast' by William R. Evans III & Andrew Frothingham 

and of course the widely attributed but sourceless... 

History is written by the victors. 
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) 
@Attributed widely