Historian

A historian is a scholar who studies and writes about the past. They are considered authorities on the events they research. Historians use methodical research to create narratives about the human race. They look at how things change over long periods of time. This work is not just about telling stories. It involves investigating competing ideas and facts to explain why things happened.

To create these narratives, historians follow a process called historical analysis. They investigate various facts and purported facts. They compare these to create a coherent story of the past. Modern historians often use tools from other social sciences. These include economics, sociology, politics, and psychology. They also use linguistics and anthropology. They might even use archaeology to verify old accounts. This helps them decide if an earlier story is true or false.

History has changed significantly from ancient times to the modern era. Ancient historians had very different goals and methods. They did not use the same chronological systems we use today. Often, they absorbed their sources without showing where the information came from. Their main goal was often to create political or military paradigms. In contrast, modern historians became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century. This happened as research universities emerged in Germany. This professional model eventually spread to Japan, Italy, Russia, and Latin America.

In ancient Greece, systematic historical thought began to emerge. Herodotus of Halicarnassus lived in the fifth century BC. He is often called the "father of history" by Cicero. Herodotus traveled extensively to conduct his own research. He tried to distinguish between reliable and unreliable accounts. However, he also believed that divinity played a role in history. Later, Thucydides changed this approach. He removed divine causality from his writing. He focused on rational explanations for the war between Athens and Sparta.

Different cultures developed their own ways of recording the past. In China, Sima Qian laid the groundwork for professional writing around 100 BCE. He wrote the Shiji, which is known as the Records of the Grand Historian. This work included biographies of famous people and commoners. In the Middle Ages, Christian monks and clergy wrote much of the history. They wrote about the life of Jesus Christ and the history of the Church. They often recorded events in the form of annals or chronicles.

One of the biggest challenges for a historian is the concept of objectivity. Objectivity means being neutral and fair. Many scholars believe that strict objectivity is impossible to achieve. This is because historians are products of their own cultures and beliefs. A historian's own interests might influence which facts they choose to include. They might also omit certain information based on their views. Additionally, the original sources themselves often contain bias. This can lead to racial, cultural, or gender biases in historical writing.

Because of these challenges, historians often debate one another. There is rarely a single past that everyone agrees upon. Different groups, such as elites or non-elites, may have competing histories. Some scholars suggest that historians should state their biases explicitly. This helps readers understand the framework being used. In the modern era, other things like newspapers and Wikipedia also impact historical accounts. This makes the work of finding a single truth even more complex.

Legal cases have even used the idea of the "objective historian" to settle disputes. In the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, a court needed a benchmark. They needed to compare real scholarship against illegitimate methods. Expert witness Richard J. Evans helped define these standards. He compared the distortion of history by Holocaust deniers to established methodologies. The court found that David Irving lost his case because he manipulated evidence. He failed to act as a "conscientious historian" by misrepresenting the historical record.