Knowledge Is Power and Books Are The Key

I grew up with a love of books.  Through books, you can learn new things, travel to far off and sometimes imaginary places, and escape the mundane for a few hours.  Throughout history, knowledge has almost always played an important role in the social structure.  The Europeans respected the knowledge that came from books, and so when they claimed new lands, they tried to convert the natives to their way of thinking.  Because the Native Americans were unable to read, they were often tricked into signing treaties that they did not fully understand, since their only reliable source of the information in the treaty were the white settlers who knew how to read, and often were willing to take any advantage they could in order to get gain.  Many cultures will never fully recover from this change in power and influence.  I found this blog post to be a very interesting list of examples of people who used knowledge or the lack thereof to gain power.  http://zittingsarah232.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-gud-too-hav-edumacation.html