US History

What is History, and

How Does Historical Change Take Place?

By Scott Gabriel Knowles, Ph.D.

WHAT IS HISTORY?

“HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.”

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary (1906)

Ambrose Bierce was a cynic, but he puts it all right out there on the table doesn’t he? It is a cliché to say that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, but perhaps there is a grain of truth in it. I prefer Mark Twain’s aphorism that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it “rhymes.” As we look at the world around us today—its politics and culture, economy and environment—the only way we can explain its realities is through historical explanation and analysis. There is no natural or inevitable pathway to this place we call “today,” but rather a long and unbroken chain of events, often irrational and unpredictable and lost to our understanding, leading from moment to moment, decision to decision, action to action.

Practicing history involves two key tasks: 1) collecting historical sources, and 2) analyzing historical sources. Source collection is a vast enterprise. Despite the fact that only an infinitesimally small amount of possible sources have been collected, they are still enormously challenging to find, preserve, catalog, and present for inspection. Source analysis is the art of understanding the context of a particular source, and understanding how the source fits in with other sources, building towards a broad and coherent argument about historical change.

Historians are not scientists, there are no experiments that we do that can predict future events—we have no theories of evolution or universal gravitation to guide us. In this sense history is part of an ongoing conversation and debate. Interpretations of the past that hold sway in one era are passed over for rival interpretations in another. Historians are often embroiled—though they are often looking at events and people long past and dead—in the most heated political arguments of their day. This is especially true in a democracy, where the openness of discussion about history and shared values is necessary, and where this discussion constantly defines and redefines public policy and democratic practice. In other words, the practice of history is also the practice of democracy.

How Does Historical Change Take Place?

Consider the following explanations for historical change. At the most basic level this is what the practice of history aspires to accomplish: an explanation for an action or actions that resulted in change over time. Which of the following explanations of historical change makes the most sense to you and why?

1. It doesn’t. Nothing changes.

2. Who cares, it doesn’t affect me. I make my own history.

3. Who knows, it’s totally chaotic and unpredictable.

4. Through the actions of single individuals leading large groups.

5. Through the action of large groups, sometimes led by single individuals.

6. Through “revolutionary” action, causing abrupt departures from normal practices.

7. Through “evolutionary” action with slow, uniform actions causing almost imperceptible changes over time.

8. Through the creation, distribution, and struggle over resources among individuals and groups.

9. Through the creation and modification of laws and governments.

10. Through the creation and modification of individual and group identities.

11. Through a retrospective process, locating and explaining historical facts and processes as they were in an objective, scientific manner.

12. Through a retrospective process, locating and explaining historical facts and processes according to the perspective of the historian.

What Should You Expect from a Historian?

Historians live and breathe in the present, and as such they are part of the social, cultural, and political trends and debates currently animating our world. At the same time, there are very specifically articulated definitions for the historian’s craft, and very specific professional and ethical guidelines that should inform historical research and writing, teaching, and public presentation. Please review these at the website of the American Historical Association. I follow these standards as a professional historian, and I encourage discussion about these standards and about any of the ideas presented in this document, and in my class.

http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/ProfessionalStandards.cfm