Historian

[1] Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time.

[3] Modern historians of the ancient world have to deal with diverse types of evidence, which are debated more today than in the 19th century due to innovations in the field.

[25] During the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, the court relied on Richard Evan's witness report which mentioned "objective historian" in the same vein as the reasonable person, and reminiscent of the standard traditionally used in English law of "the man on the Clapham omnibus".

Schneider proposed this, because, in her opinion, Irving could not have passed the standard Daubert tests unless a court was given "a great deal of assistance from historians".

Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and linguistics.

While ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times.

An important part of the contribution of many modern historians is the verification or dismissal of earlier historical accounts through reviewing newly discovered sources and recent scholarship or through parallel disciplines like archaeology.

Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region.

Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events.

Thucydides largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element that set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings.

He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon (c. 431 – 355 BCE) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis.

The Spring and Autumn Annals, the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481 BCE, is among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts arranged on annalistic principles.

Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people and also explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras.

[33] An example of this type of writing is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, which were the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of Alfred the Great in the late ninth century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154.

"[35] He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history, and achievements in the arts and sciences.

[43] His writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident, sometimes dogmatic, emphasis on a progressive model of British history, according to which the country threw off superstition, autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward-looking culture combined with the freedom of belief and expression.

According to John Lukacs, he was the first master of cultural history, which seeks to describe the spirit and the forms of expression of a particular age, a particular people, or a particular place.

[51][52][53][54] Specifically, he implemented the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and analysis of historical documents.

Beginning with his first book in 1824, the History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514, Ranke used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses".

Over a career that spanned much of the century, Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources (empiricism), an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics (aussenpolitik).

"[58] Butterfield's formulation received much attention, and the kind of historical writing he argued against in generalised terms is no longer academically respectable.

The French Annales School radically changed the focus of historical research in France during the 20th century by stressing long-term social history, rather than political or diplomatic themes.

[60][61] An eminent member of this school, Georges Duby, described his approach to history as one that relegated the sensational to the sidelines and was reluctant to give a simple accounting of events, but strived on the contrary to pose and solve problems and, neglecting surface disturbances, to observe the long and medium-term evolution of economy, society, and civilisation.Marxist historiography developed as a school of historiography influenced by the chief tenets of Marxism, including the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes.

Friedrich Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, which was salient in creating the socialist impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the Fabian Society.

R. H. Tawney's The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century (1912)[62] and Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926), reflected his ethical concerns and preoccupations in economic history.

He took a comparative topical approach to independent civilizations and demonstrated that they displayed striking parallels in their origin, growth, and decay.

The editor-in-chief, having decided to forego a regular academic career, must entice other scholars to help him; and with the present [high] demand for college teachers, this is no easy task.

Publication is increasingly required by smaller schools, so graduate papers become journal articles and PhD dissertations become published monographs.

The graduate student experience is difficult—those who finish their doctorate in the United States take on average 8 or more years; funding is scarce except at a few very rich universities.

[69] Professional historians typically work in colleges and universities, archival centers, government agencies, museums, and as freelance writers and consultants.

Herodotus ( c. 484 – c. 425 BC ) was a Greek historian who lived in the fifth century BC and one of the earliest historians whose work survives.
Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of Thucydides 's History of the Peloponnesian War .
Leonardo Bruni ( c. 1370 –1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of Antiquity , the Middle Ages , and Modern times .
A page of Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Voltaire 's works of history are an excellent example of Enlightenment era history writing. Painting by Pierre Charles Baquoy .
Edward Gibbon 's Decline of the Roman Empire (1776) was a masterpiece of late 18th-century history writing.
Jules Michelet, later in his career.
Ranke established history as a professional academic discipline in Germany.
The 20th century saw the creation of a huge variety of historiographical approaches. Marc Bloch 's focus on social history rather than traditional political history was of tremendous influence.
Peter R.L Brown , a Princeton historian of late antiquity and the medieval period.