History plays an important role in research on Computer Assisted Language Learn- ing (CALL) as it can help researchers better define a composite field in which the connection between technology and pedagogy has never been either clear or easy. Yet, despite CALL be- ing a rather recent field of investigation and work, accounts of its historical development vary among authors, especially as regards the so-called interpretative histories, which sketch the field's evolution by identifying and characterising broad historical phases. This paper aims at describing such controversy and compare the various accounts so as to highlight the different interpretations of the field which underpin each of them. A new history will be proposed in the end based on the field's development in the last decades which posits that network technologies may be able to reconcile CALL with Second Language Acquisition research.