The work of S.O. Schmidt contains information about the emergence, development, dissemination and criticism of the so-called "new chronology" of the history of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, academician A.T. Fomenko and his associates. Historiography of recent decades is characterized in detail. An attempt was made to clarify the interest and even trust in such a science-like falsification. All this is considered in the context of the study of modern social historical consciousness and trends in the development of science. Particular attention is paid to observations about the system of historical education in high school and identifying ways to form concepts about the past, methods of its knowledge among the general public that meet the modern level. For scientists, teachers of higher and secondary schools, all interested in the past and its study.