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Theology Makes the History

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(Referred by Hans-Fredreich)

Sample:

According to historian Michael Kammen, the worst mistakes are made when researchers succumb to nonobjective influences or factors that taint their conclusions. Five of these factors form a useful measuring rod in assessing any work of history.

A useful measuring rod

The first of these is chauvinism — the tendency to let pride, rivalry and ideology lead to an emphasis on certain facts to the exclusion of others. A historian named Akira Iriye will argue the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific differently from Douglas MacArthur's Reminiscences.

The next negative element is group solidarity or group survival. It helps, for example, to know that Menachem Begin was an Israeli freedom fighter when reading his Never Again!

The third factor is the need to publicly argue a case (e.g., the various "authorized biographies" we often hear about).

The above is closely related to the element of justification, the need to clear oneself or one's group. Most nonacademic (and many academic) histories have this sort of subjectivity.

Finally, there are personal or psychological factors that often reveal more about the author than the subject. Fawn Brodie's 1970s effort Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History is a case in point, as is a more recent work on Nancy Reagan.

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