How I Became Interested in History
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach." - Aldous Huxley
[NB: Inspiration for this post comes from James Lileks who wrote about model-making as a kid. It will undoubtedly resonate exclusively with male readers who grew up in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's.]
My interest in history was inspired by one of the primal drivers of history: conflict. Natural to a boy growing up in the 1960's, I was attracted to mechanical things. In particular, the machines of war. It was little more than twenty years since the end of WWII - about the same number of years from 9/11 until today - so the echos of that war were still dominant in the culture. Hollywood was busy cranking out WWII themed movies - "The Longest Day," "The Great Escape," "Where Eagles Dare," "The Guns of Navarone" - and TV shows - "Rat Patrol," "Combat!" even comedies like "McHale's Navy" and "Hogan's Heros." I watched them all. The adult men of the time who had actually gone to war, seemed strong and capable. What I sensed, but couldn't express, was how they embodied the masculine virtues I later found when studying martial arts.
While Hollywood was fine entertainment for a young boy and certainly fueled my interest in all things WWII, the real draw for me was the hands-on world of model airplanes. Focusing on the details, working to get the markings and squadron insignia exactly right required an understanding of what they meant. This sparked a curiosity to know more about who flew them and eventually the wider canvas of the battles in which they fought and why.
Down in my basement, in the far corner, top shelf I knew there was a set of file boxes that held the artifacts of those history lessons. Over the years, I'd recall bits and pieces of what might still be in those boxes. This past week I pulled them off the shelf. A flood of good memories spilled out onto the table as I lifted the lid and pulled out smaller boxes that contained dozens of build instructions and box covers of models I'd built. I surprised myself at the sheer number of kits I'd built in my pre- and early-teens. It's clear where much of my paper route money was spent. A few of these kits were never completed and are still in their box. They remind me, with a pang of melancholy, of the transition away from model building, into the world of adult responsibilities, and the need to find a job at age 11.
I'd built a few balsa kits, but they took more skill than I had patience. They mostly looked like wrecks when I finished. The injection molded kits from Monogram, Revell, Tamiya, and Hasagawa were more in line with my temperament. The detail was part of the kit and all I needed was enough skill not to slather Testors cement in the wrong places.
The kits from these manufacturers always included a brief history along with the assembly instructions.
The implicit message was that we, as model-builders, had a responsibility to know what the models represented and why they were important. With these models in hand, our play included re-enactments of the battles described in the instructions. Thinking back, they were more than just play things. They were a connection to something important and it would be best if we understood what that was. My generation grew up listening to the stories - the real-life experiences - from men and women who lived through WWII. As the WWII generation aged and Hollywood moved on to sci-fi and fantasy, this connection was lost. There are no veteran TIE fighter pilots, no League of Super-Heroes who'll sit down with you and talk story. Just adults acting the part as a child would, except with makeup and catered lunches.
Virtually none of the models I completed exist. I don't recall their fate. More than likely subjected to the ravages of firecrackers. There are two that have survived, a Stenson Reliant and a Boeing P-9 (incomplete), and they sit on my office bookshelf.
My older brother, T, was a master at building models. Airplanes, tanks, automobiles, Estes rockets...no detail was too small and everything was exact. Several years ago, sorting through boxes that hadn't been opened in 40 years, I discovered one of the models he built. A Tiger tank sold by the premier kit manufacturer Tamiya. All these years later I still marvel at the skill he had as a teenager. The detailing on this model, including the interior was exquisite. I've long since forgot how I came in possession of this model. So I decided to build a special box for the Tiger tank and surprise him with it over coffee. (It's hard to surprise my brother, but I think this did a little.)
Unfortunately, I neglected to take any pictures of the interior of the Tiger tank to better illustrate his skill, but I do have an extremely warn copy of a 1973 Tamiya catalog that shows the kit details.
The quality of T's work was every bit as good as the catalog illustrated.
One of the levers prompting the growth out of this phase of play and models was the connections we made between the models and the real stories behind them. I became a voracious reader of military history reaching much further back than the 20th century. History had become a sanctuary from the oppressive home life. I was able to position my own troubles within a much bigger context and gain the perspectives and insights from voices long since silenced. Samurai warriors and Greco-Roman history were particular favorites. By the time I reached 13 I had found my way to Marcus Aurelius. By 15 I had read the Iliad and the Odyssey. By the time I'd graduated high school, my interest in history had expanded beyond what had happened to include the why. The rest, as they say, is history.
"How I Became Interested in History" last updated on 2025.03.22.
I hope you will return regularly to The Remnant's Way as I often update posts, particularly Ab Initio, and do not always publish to email posts that are meant to support or serve as reference to existing or future posts.
And please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Doing so supports my writing efforts and grants me the most precious of all resources - dedicated time for writing. And for that, I am deeply grateful.
Image Credits: The Author
I love this. I am the target audience. After a brief hiatus, I returned to model making by way of table-top wargaming. This effectively combined the board games of Avalon Hill with building and painting models. I return to the battles of WWII and also battles much more ancient.