Narrative

I hope people realize reading one book or one documentary provides only a single narrative about historical events no matter how many narratives a book or movie claims it possesses. I've read quite a few books and watched quite a few docs on events that happened a few decades ago and even just a few years ago and such things are still controversial to how things were and what actually happened. Even just really trivial things like a fucking music scene. 

That's why you should give props to "veterans" and hear what they have to say. And I'm not talking about people who fought in a war necessarily (although they're invaluable in the tales they tell), but people who LIVED through things. Don't just rely on a book or a documentary and always be wary of how things are portrayed. There are heroes, saints, and villains but don't ever forget they're human.

Don't also forget those same people have their own agendas, special interests, and vendettas.