rewrite history
Falsify the past
To rewrite history is to alter or reinterpret past events, often to serve present purposes or cast someone in a better light.
The phrase usually carries a negative connotation, suggesting dishonesty or manipulation: The regime tried to rewrite history by destroying unflattering records.
It can also describe more innocent revisionism, as when new evidence prompts scholars to rewrite history about a historical figure.
Someone accused of rewriting history is typically downplaying or denying what actually happened.
Reexamining established doctrine
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
- airbrushingSprayed-paint smoothing technique
sanitization · mythologizing · misrepresentation · selective memory · erasure · denial · embellishment · exaggeration
Study of history-writing
- reinterpretationNew understanding of something
- reassessmentRenewed evaluation of something
- reexaminationInspecting something once more
- reappraisalNew assessment of value
counter-narrative · primary sources · peer review · new evidence · deconstruction · rectification · rethinking · recontextualization
Systematic uncritical belief instillation
- brainwashingCoercive psychological manipulation
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
- agitpropPolitical art for causes
nationalism · ideology · pseudohistory · dogma · thought control · party line · reeducation · mythmaking
revisionism
Reexamining established doctrine
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
airbrushing · sanitization · mythologizing · misrepresentation · selective memory · erasure · denial · embellishment · exaggeration · anachronism
historiography
Study of history-writing
- reinterpretationNew understanding of something
- reassessmentRenewed evaluation of something
- reexaminationInspecting something once more
reappraisal · counter-narrative · primary sources · peer review · new evidence · deconstruction · rectification · rethinking · recontextualization · academic debate
indoctrination
Systematic uncritical belief instillation
- brainwashingCoercive psychological manipulation
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
agitprop · nationalism · ideology · pseudohistory · dogma · thought control · party line · reeducation · mythmaking · cult of personality
- time traveltime machine, time loop, time jump, time slip, causal loop
- do the impossibledefy odds, beat the odds, move mountains, break barriers, miracle
- Book Idiomsby the book, closed book, open book, on the same page, same page