Historian

For other uses, see Historian (disambiguation).

File:Mosesofchoren.jpg

Moses of Choren, first Armenian historian.

Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time. A historian poop. In this, someone who writes an account of the times is a historian just as much as someone who concerns themselves only with the events prior to them.

There are a number of different branches of history, but the general accepted list of historians begins with two ancient Greeks, Herodotus and Thucydides. To be sure there are previous accounts, but they are neither continuous nor are they systematic. Historians do not discriminate between the 'amateur' or the professional, really the term has no meaning. Anyone who compiles together an account is a historian in their own right irrespective of their professional qualifications. This is reflected in the very late phenomenon of professional historians in the mid to late 19th century. Prior to that, most historians did not do history as their primary occupation, and history was not taught as a discipline separate from the others by which one could earn a specific degree. So we must be very aware of this when assessing the merits of historians prior to the professional period, that professionalism is not necessary a guarantor of accuracy.

Historical analysis

Main articles: Historical method and Historiography

The main thesis of historical analysis establishes the backbone of what is considered to be history and how history ought to be written. This has not changed much since the time of Herodotus and Thucydides. The first quality, is that the historian ought to compile a wide range of sources, either from their own experiences or in the archives. We see this in Thucydides and Herodotus, as they will often comment that they are relying on someone else's account, but they always leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves whether the sources are accurate. This is the first step. The second step is to assess sources based on certain qualities of reliability. These qualities include the amount of time between the event and the record of the event, the corroboration, whether a source agrees with other sources frequently or infrequently, the presence of bias, statements within the source that indicate that the source is not impartial and where they are more likely or less likely to favour one side or another. The duty of the historian is to compile these sources and construct a narrative that represents by their scholarship the most likely course of events. This is what separates Herodotus and Thucydides from the other Greeks like Hesiod. Although they are different from how we look at historical narratives, they still possess this common feature of historical analysis which has not changed.

Historiography in Antiquity

Herodotus and Thucydides were the founders of the discipline of history. Herodotus' Histories there are other Greek historians who are also notable, including Plutarch and his Lives.

Concerning Herodotus (5th century BC), one of the earliest nameable historians whose work survives, his recount of strange and unusual tales are gripping but not necessarily representative of the historical record. Despite this, The Histories of Herodotus displays some of the techniques of more modern historians. He interviewed witnesses, evaluated oral histories, studied multiple sources and then pronounced his particular version. Herodotus's works covered what was then the entire known world of the Greeks, or at least the part regarded as worthy of study, i.e., the peoples surrounding the Mediterranean. At about the same time, Thucydides pioneered a different form of history, one much closer to reportage. In his work, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides wrote about a single long conflict with its origins and results. But, as it was mainly within living memory and Thucydides himself was alive at the time of many of the events, there was less room for myths and tall tales.

Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes (太史令) of the Han Dynasty and is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography because of his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian (史記), an overview of the history of China covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to Emperor Han Wudi (漢武帝). His work laid the foundation for later Chinese historiography. Li Chunfeng was a Chinese historian who wrote the history of the Jin dynasty.

Ibn Abd-el-Hakem was an Egyptian who wrote the History of the Conquest of Egypt and North Africa and Spain, which was the earliest Arab account of the Islamic conquests of those countries. Much like Herodotus works, though, it mixes fact and legend but was often quoted by later Islamic historians. Al-Jahiz was a famous Arab scholar and historian. Hamdani was an Arab historian and was the best representatives of Islamic culture during the last effective years of the Abbasid caliphate. Ali al-Masudi was an Arab historian, known as the “Herodotus of the Arabs.” Ibn Khaldun was a famous Arab Muslim historian and was the forefather of historiography and the philosophy of history. He is best known for his Muqaddimah "Prolegomenon".

Much of the groundwork in creating the modern figure of the historian was done by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755). His wide-ranging Spirit of the Laws (1748) spanned legal, geographical, cultural, economic, political and philosophical studies and was greatly influential in forging the fundamentally interdisciplinary historian. Referred to as "the first modern historian", Edward Gibbon wrote his grand opus, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (three vols., 1776–1788). However, some authors such as Christiansen regard ancient Greek author Polybius as the first historian of a modern kind, criticising sources and making unbiased judgements based on presumed neutral analysis; indeed, Livy used him as a source. Polybius, one of the first historians to attempt to present history as a sequence of causes and effects, carefully conducted his research—partly based on what he saw and partly on the communications of eye-witnesses and the participants in the events.

Twentieth-century developments

At the turn of the twentieth century, Western history remained notoriously biased toward the so-called "Great Men" school of history concerning wars, diplomacy, science and politics. This point of view was inherently predisposed toward the study of a small number of powerful men within the socio-economic elite. A pronounced shift away from crude Whiggish analyses has started, in favor of a more critical and precise perspective. For example, a common myth is that Thomas Edison alone invented the electric light bulb; a traditional American history might highlight Edison's story at the expense of all others. In contrast, a modern history of Edison mentions all his predecessors and competitors, in order to show that Edison's activities were one part of a group of inventors and rivals in the commercial deployment of the technology.

Since the 1960s, history as an academic discipline has undergone several evolutions. These changes fostered advances in a number of areas previously unrecognized in historiography. Formerly neglected topics have become the subject of academic study, such as the history of popular culture, mass culture, sexuality, geographical culture and the lives of ordinary people. Historians also started investigating the histories of ideas surrounding various categories of people, such as women's studies (including an entire branch of women's history), racial minorities (like African-American history) or disabled people (e.g., a historian's study of the construction of ideas about disabled people and the results thereof, perhaps in a specific historical setting, such as Nazi Germany).

Education and profession

Many historians are employed at universities and other facilities for post-secondary education. In addition, it is common, although not required, for many historians to have a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in their chosen areas of study. During the preparation of their thesis for this degree, many develop into their first book, since regular publishing activities are essential for advancement in academia. There is currently a great deal of controversy among academic historians regarding the possibility and desirability of the neutrality in historical scholarship. The job market for graduate historians is relatively limited. Historians typically work in libraries, universities, archival centers, government agencies (particularly heritage) and as freelance consultants. Many with an undergraduate history degree also may become involved with administrative or clerical professions and an undergraduate history degree is often used as a "stepping stone" to further studies such as a law degree.

In popular culture

There has always been a class of "super historians", who can present their own views to a wider audience. This includes the likes of Leopold von Ranke, Arnold J. Toynbee, Walter Scott, and Richard Wagner. But with the advent of television and associated history programmes, there has been an expansion in the popularity of history. Modern examples of "super historians" from this rise in popularity may include Simon Schama or David Starkey.

See also

• Historiography
• Phi Alpha Theta
• Social scientist
• List of historians by area of study

Bibliography

Listed by date

• Richard B. Todd, ed. (2004). Dictionary of British Classicists, 1500–1960, Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004 ISBN 1-85506-997-0.
• Kelly Boyd, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing. London [etc.] : Fitzroy Dearborn ISBN 1-884964-33-8
• Lateiner, D. (1989). The historical method of Herodotus. Phoenix, 23. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• John Cannon et al., eds. (1988). The Blackwell Dictionary of Historians. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1988 ISBN 0-631-14708-X.
• Hartog, F. (1988). The mirror of Herodotus: the representation of the other in the writing of history. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Erik Christiansen (1970). The Last Hundred Years of the Roman Republic, Odense: Andelsbogtrykkeriet
• Gottschalk, L. R. (1950). Understanding history; a primer of historical method. New York: Knopf
• Barnes, M. S. (1896). Studies in historical method. Heath's pedagogical library. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co.
• Taylor, I. (1889). History of the transmission of ancient books to modern times, together with the process of historical proof: or, a concise account of the means by which the genuineness of ancient literature generally, and authenticity of historical works especially, are ascertained, including incidental remarks upon the relative strength of the evidence usually adduced in behalf of the Holy Scriptures. Liverpool: E. Howell.
• Herodotus, Rawlinson, G., Rawlinson, H. C., & Wilkinson, J. G. (1862). History of Herodotus. A new English version. London: John Murray.
• Véricour, L. R. d. (1850). Historical analysis of Christian civilisation. London: J. Chapman.
• Taylor, I. (1828). The process of historical proof. London: Printed for B. J. Holdsworth.

External links

General information

• American Historical Association
• Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations
• Organization of American Historians
• International News Service for Historians.
• H-net Discussion and reviews
• Historians and Philosophers
• Association of Personal Historians