An Examiination of History Writing

Writing History: Theory & Practice is a compilation of treatises by historians who view history from either a Marxist or post-constructionist view point (or in some cases, both) diverge in the way in the way in which history is written and examined. The authors, for the most part, attempt to explain the different methods of history with varying results. The contributors vary in the degrees of their expertise, professional careers, and historical training. The first three articles in the compilation are focused mainly on the history of history as a profession, including Rankean influence and historical professionalization. The second set of essays examines the ways in which history is used to express different ideas such as Marxism, post-structuralism, and comparativism. The final six essays are more concerned with the types of history that are currently most influential in the field of history and cover such specialized topics as social history, feminist history, and the so-called "history from below".

In one essay in the first section of the book, written by Peter Lambert titled "The professionalization and institutionalization of history", seeks to explain how the institutionalization of history is closely tied to the formation of the nation-state's identity. In Lambert's view, the value of history is only realized when a state needs to define itself, and then usually it is geared towards defining the uniqueness, and thereby superiority, of the state in question. With this view in mind, Lambert quickly turns to criticism of the rigid ways in which historians view and interpret history. Lambert lambastes the Rankean tradition of reliance upon primary sources, critical interpretation of those sources, and the craft of weaving those sources into a cohesive narrative able to convey the lessons that the authors wished to impart. Oddly enough, Lambert also spares no derision on the unprofessionalism of early historians such as Frederick York Powell, so it is unclear on where he stands on how history should be written. By the end of his monograph, though, Lambert reveals a post-structuralist view-point in which historians work at cross-purposes to each other, noting that "(historians) endeavours to cover their own backs against potential critics among their fellow professionals".

By contrast, where the article by Lambert seems to meander and not have a definite direction, the article by editor and author Stefan Berger, titled Comparative History, was lucid and clearly organized. This example of the second part of the book focuses on the different classes and permutations of the methods in which history is used to compare. Berger asserts that there are two main types of comparative history with two sub-categories, for a total of four categories. The first main category is comparative "Individualizing", which demonstrates the uniqueness of a culture or region. Second is "Universalizing", which identifies similarities between cultures. The first sub-category is one Charles Tilly calls "Encompassing", which is related to individualizing and explains the differences in seemingly similar cases. Finally, the second sub-category is called "Variation Finding" and is closer to universalizing in that it seeks to find how different cases are similar to each other. This article is more instructive and accessible to all audiences, both professional historians and laypersons, because of its plain language and clear examples. Additionally, it is difficult to ascertain the author's political views, most likely because his article is more instructive than critical.

With that article in mind, we move on to an article by Glenn Jordan titled Voices from below: doing people's history in Cardiff. Though Jordan is compelling in his argument for renaming "history from below" to "cultural democracy" - a discipline which encompasses people's history, community education and community art - he loses focus in his article within a paragraph. Instead of attempting to convey the struggles and successes of the residents of "Tiger Bay", as Butetown is called, he instead launches on what could be termed a promotional pamphlet for his project. From page 302 to 303, aside from a couple of quotations on the political use of history, Jordan launches into a description of the physical building that houses the Butetown History & Arts Centre, including its square footage, location in the town, and amount of funding allocated by private and public grants. The net result is a paragraph filled with seemingly self-aggrandizing statements and interviews by fellow co-founders that seem only to serve to inflate the reputation of the author, who continually refers to himself in the anonymous third person as if he were writing about a different, mysterious person of another age. All in all, the article by Jordan serves as instruction to future historians not as an example of what to do when writing about history, but more as an example of what one should strenuously avoid, unless one is writing a grant proposal.

Stephan Berger (ed.) Writing History: Theory & Practice (Oxford University Press, 2003)