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the writing of history has always been a battle against the self-styled…
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modesty, judgement, imagination, a sensitivity to connection - these are what all historians need
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do not profess to have entirely discovered the truth - they claim to have discovered a new truth in an era when everything is a little grey - in that era people would be willing to hold onto anything which claimed to be the truth
judgement - when you make a judgement you need to have an opinion, you need evidence, you need to know that you're putting your judgement or thesis out there and consider whether it is new and separate from anything else out there and whether it adds anything to history, and then do you have the confidence and self awareness to put it out into the world. also judging the importance of what to include vs what to omit
imagination - what is the harm of a purely fictionalised approach to the history? you lose nuance in attempting to tell a story, and by reframing it as a narrative you need to change elements of it in order to make it entertaining
however you do need imagination in order to tell a historical story, and you need it to be able to draw certain conclusions, but you need to balance it with clear thinking and evidence
imagination is key in piecing together evidence - being abel to see the bigger picture, making sure it's smooth and connected and easy for the reader to make sense of
sensitivity to connections - being able to see them and understand them for what they are, able to piece them together. what we know are the consequences of the actions of history, and it is a historian's role to backtrack
also being sensitive to the human aspect of history - psychology, reasoning, sensitivity to the current socio-political epoch which may temper and influence the history which is produced
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