Ideas+on+History

History 200 Dr. Schuster

** History - what, why and how? ** //“I start…from the idea of writing history… to extend human sensibilities ….into the going conflict over how people shall live…”// Howard Zinn //“History springs from the human fascination with self-discovery.”// Joyce Appelby, et al. //“All history … is contemporary history.”// Eric Foner //“History is the interaction between the historian and his [her] facts//.” E.H. Carr “ // Historians didn’t stick to the facts, the facts stick to the historian... // ” Appelby, et al. //“True history. . . must influence the future.”// Charles Beard //“..the historian who would restate without reshaping [facts]…. would be depriving human experience of all significance.”// Carl Becker

The comments above show that historians believe that the work of history has a larger purpose. They indicate their ideas about the making of history, in particular, about the role of interpretation and perspective. Assignment In the last two weeks we have read a variety of different historians discussing the ‘what, why and how’ of history. The articles by Stearns, Becker, Oakeshoot, Zinn, Foner, Jensen and Weiner have addressed 1) the **definition and meaning of history** 2) its **value and purpose** and 3) **the role of the historian, that is, the role of interpretation and perspective, in ‘making’ history**. Some have spent more time on one question than another but they have all contributed to our conversation these past few weeks on ‘history.’

Your task is to write an essay that discusses their ideas on these three main points. Your essay should be organized around the individual issues here, that is, addressing one issue at a time. Take care not to organize your thoughts around the different authors – you are presenting or examining their ideas but in relation to a particular question. It might be best to review the articles and flag the material that relates to these three issues. The essay should be 4 pages, double-spaced. Please do not quote but use your own words. Organization, coherence and thoughtfulness required. Be sure to edit and reread your material before handing it in. This is a low-stakes writing assignment.