What you explain makes a lot of sense, I think that the best history we can know is that of the living hand of people, because many times books are manipulated by the interests of governments so that what suits them appears there. On the other hand, traditions in oral culture remain faithful, in many cases better than the books themselves.
What is important is to know the history, since this is a very important identity factor to understand its evolution and correct the mistakes of the past, preventing them from happening again and perfecting the methods of doing things.
Great publication, I liked the approach you gave it and the analogy between an older person and history.
Great points @mancar! Really, many governments have the power to manipulate the books in their favor, Venezuela and Cuba, are some of the countries that the government dictatorship practices this