Why You Should Study History

Watch next Saturday at 9 PM ET on C-SPAN 2
Organization of American Historians president and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History talked about the role of both institutions, challenges facing historians and new uses of technology for public history. C-SPAN conducted this interview at the Organization of American Historians meeting in New Orleans.
Watch online at: c-span.org/history

[@jimschofield8734]

You should study history for the hilarious but true anecdotes like the u-boat Captain, Captain Schlitt (real name), who sank his own u-boat by misusing the excessively complex German toilet, causing a lavatory-related emergency which flooded his submarine. The toilets on u-boats were so complex that there was a trained toilet engineer aboard each boat... Captain Schlitt failed to consult the engineer before attempting to use the latrine. Five German sailors died. The rest were rescued. This happened off the coast of Scotland in early 1945 I believe. History is amazing. You could write a history book just about hilarious toilet anecdotes - there's so many.