The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant event and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten.

  The speaker contends that people place too much emphasis to individuals when they study history, and stressed that groups of people are also important but neglected by us. I do not agree with the speaker’s assertion and believe that researching those famous individuals is most effective way to get historic knowledge and it is unrealistic to study history through those nameless people.

  First, not all achievements were involved with nameless groups of people especially in science or arts realm. Actually, sometimes it is a very lonely process when scientists devoted themselves into science. Sometimes they were lack of trusts from others and sometimes they must hold their beliefs but face challenges from all others. Take Bruno as an example, in order to propel the Copernican and told the public the Earth is one of the stars in cosmos, he was strongly objected by church and be persecuted by the Inquisition. At last, he was executed with fire and dedicate his life to truth. From this example, we can see the sometimes scientists’ achievements are almost by individual, we can hardly know it by research nameless persons. Another example is Galileo, in order to prove different weights fall with same speed, he challenged Aristotle theory and did gravity experiments in Lining Tower. After this experiments Galileo won reputation but lost his job in Pisa university.  These two examples all illustrated that some time science research is a process of personal struggle. When we study history, we could feel the loneliness of them and we can easily tell it was have nothing to do with nameless masses.

  Second, although behind a lot of historical event, there must be a lot of nameless people. But it is impossible to record them all for historian. For example, we all know there were a lot of soldiers were sacrificed their lives in the World War I and World War II, but it is unrealistic for historians to write down all name for them. Similarly, it is widely said the Christopher Columbus has discovered the America in 1492, while it is also widely believe that there were others who may have made the same voyage. However, when comes to study who involved in the events or movements and what they do respectively, it is impossible to study anyone other than Columbus.

  Although it is very hard to learn study history by research non-famous individual, it is not to say it is completely impossible. Actually, we can learn as much as possible about these non-famous individual within very limited historical materials. Through studying these non-famous person, we can see some features of that time.

   From what has been discussed above, we can see that the most effective and realistic way to study hoistory is through researching those famous individuals. The abundant materials will facilitate us to study overall. But to these non-famous masses, although the historical materials are very rare, we should also learn it as much as possible. Knowing more information, we will get more information and understand the world more deeply.