Finding Extra Historians for What Is History?

[finn.b14]

Hi guys,
One of last year's students told me that is is important to do some research into historians outside of the course. They said that the examiners were looking for alternative perspectives within the What is History essay.
I was just wondering where to find interesting, reputable historians. Has anyone found any good websites or textbooks?
Thanks 

[owidjaja]

Hi guys,
One of last year's students told me that is is important to do some research into historians outside of the course. They said that the examiners were looking for alternative perspectives within the What is History essay.
I was just wondering where to find interesting, reputable historians. Has anyone found any good websites or textbooks?
Thanks 

Hey there,
I'm not sure what you mean by 'historians outside of the course' since the syllabus doesn't really specify what historians you need to study, but if you're talking about foundational historians (e.g. Herodotus, Thucydides, Ranke) and you want to expand on your list of historians, I'd recommend reading 50 Key Thinkers of History by Marnie Hughes-Warrington since she literally goes through 50 different historians from ancient, Enlightenment to modern and provides a bit on biographical information and explains their ideology.

While it's good to talk about a variety of historians, you don't need to push yourself in avoiding foundational historians. Your voice and judgement just needs to be clear but unique enough, and you can do this by combining modern and ancient historians. For example, I often pair Herodotus and Hamilton because both of them embody this idea of performing history rather than reading history. Another way for your essay to stand out is to use contemporary examples because it really shows that you're constantly aware of the latest historiographical issues.

Hope this helps!

[finn.b14]

Hey there,
I'm not sure what you mean by 'historians outside of the course' since the syllabus doesn't really specify what historians you need to study, but if you're talking about foundational historians (e.g. Herodotus, Thucydides, Ranke) and you want to expand on your list of historians, I'd recommend reading 50 Key Thinkers of History by Marnie Hughes-Warrington since she literally goes through 50 different historians from ancient, Enlightenment to modern and provides a bit on biographical information and explains their ideology.

While it's good to talk about a variety of historians, you don't need to push yourself in avoiding foundational historians. Your voice and judgement just needs to be clear but unique enough, and you can do this by combining modern and ancient historians. For example, I often pair Herodotus and Hamilton because both of them embody this idea of performing history rather than reading history. Another way for your essay to stand out is to use contemporary examples because it really shows that you're constantly aware of the latest historiographical issues.

Hope this helps!

Awesome! Thanks so much