Thinking About History
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- Create Date：2021-09-07 07:53:04
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Sarah C. Maza
- ISBN：022610933X
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Summary
What distinguishes history as a discipline from other fields of study？ That's the animating question of Sarah Maza’s Thinking About History， a general introduction to the field of history that revels in its eclecticism and highlights the inherent tensions and controversies that shape it。
Designed for the classroom， Thinking About History is organized around big questions: Whose history do we write， and how does that affect what stories get told and how they are told？ How did we come to view the nation as the inevitable context for history， and what happens when we move outside those boundaries？ What is the relation among popular， academic， and public history， and how should we evaluate sources？ What is the difference between description and interpretation， and how do we balance them？ Maza provides choice examples in place of definitive answers， and the result is a book that will spark classroom discussion and offer students a view of history as a vibrant， ever-changing field of inquiry that is thoroughly relevant to our daily lives。
Designed for the classroom， Thinking About History is organized around big questions: Whose history do we write， and how does that affect what stories get told and how they are told？ How did we come to view the nation as the inevitable context for history， and what happens when we move outside those boundaries？ What is the relation among popular， academic， and public history， and how should we evaluate sources？ What is the difference between description and interpretation， and how do we balance them？ Maza provides choice examples in place of definitive answers， and the result is a book that will spark classroom discussion and offer students a view of history as a vibrant， ever-changing field of inquiry that is thoroughly relevant to our daily lives。
Reviews
Scott
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An excellent meta-read about the development of the historical profession。 Well worth a read if you want to learn about the development of how historians have approached history。
Sarah
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great intro to the different types of academic history， readable for even those not studying in the academy。
Nathan Shuherk
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I really wish this would’ve been required when I was in undergrad。 Having a book like this would either deter a hopeful academic or light a fire to join the club。
Goob
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I have no clue how to put into words how fascinating and transformative reading this book has been for my thoughts about history。 I would've easily binged the entire book if it were not for the amazing footnotes and sources mentioned that have led me down so many paths of historical interest and thought that I don't think I would've considered had I not encountered in this book。 I have no clue how to put into words how fascinating and transformative reading this book has been for my thoughts about history。 I would've easily binged the entire book if it were not for the amazing footnotes and sources mentioned that have led me down so many paths of historical interest and thought that I don't think I would've considered had I not encountered in this book。 。。。more
Maielle Merriam
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Maza's well-written book offers a thoughtful introduction to the discipline of history。 It primarily explores the way in which the field has been changed， expanded， and debated over the past several decades。 Maza uses many examples from published works， which adds interest and helps to show the theories and perspectives she describes in practice。 The survey and analysis are objective to an admirable degree， but Maza's own perspective is certainly present。 Maza also explores the ways in which his Maza's well-written book offers a thoughtful introduction to the discipline of history。 It primarily explores the way in which the field has been changed， expanded， and debated over the past several decades。 Maza uses many examples from published works， which adds interest and helps to show the theories and perspectives she describes in practice。 The survey and analysis are objective to an admirable degree， but Maza's own perspective is certainly present。 Maza also explores the ways in which history is different from other disciplines， like art history， philosophy， social science， etc。 Overall， Thinking About History is an interesting read， and expresses how history is a unique and inexhaustible area of study。 。。。more
Brian
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A fantastic book about how the academic discipline of history has dramatically changed over the last few centuries。 I find this kind of thing fascinating and important， because a lot of the things we believe about the world we believe because of history， and because history shows concretely how epistemology works。 We piece together from historical artifacts and texts an idea of "why" and "how" something happened and we try to tell a story based on it。 That means there is a lot of room for error A fantastic book about how the academic discipline of history has dramatically changed over the last few centuries。 I find this kind of thing fascinating and important， because a lot of the things we believe about the world we believe because of history， and because history shows concretely how epistemology works。 We piece together from historical artifacts and texts an idea of "why" and "how" something happened and we try to tell a story based on it。 That means there is a lot of room for error and that we know a lot less than we often think we do。So I was eager to see how Maza laid out the current scholarly scene。 Maza is， if not postmodern， at least open to the sexual revolution， and it comes out in the way she describes history opening up through gay history。However， there is a lot to value。 In the first few chapters she explains how the subject of history expanded from just focusing on elite white men， the 20th century saw historians expand history to focus on social inferiors of all sorts （women， racial minorities， lower classes）。 In the second， she describes how history moved from focusing on nations as the defining entities beyond boundaries （influenced in part， interestingly by globalism）。 We learned， in the 20th century， not only to slice the pie differently， but we became more conscious （through Kuhn in part） about the fact that slicing up pies was slightly arbitrary and that history could be a creative act， fraught with peril。In the latter half of the book， which I paid more attention to， she shows how good historiography got， and also how pretentious it was in the 19th and early 20th century。 Historians sometimes aped the lure of science and simply saw their work as reading the sources and putting things together。 They are documentarians， nothing more。 The 20th century， being the home of postmodernism， made this laughable and showed that history had a lot more in common with other more creative disciplines。 To tell a history is to tell a story and that means deciding what questions to use to frame the endeavor and what things to exclude and what things to hypothesize about。 As Flat Earths and Fake Footnotes shows， history books can lie or misrepresent things by not reading sources carefully enough。Now， the part that particularly interested me was the chapter on causes and meanings。 The gist of it is that， even though historians still look for the causes of events， they are more likely to be interested in describing what the meaning of an event was to the original actors。 Since events are multi-causal it is actually immensely difficult to know what caused World War II or the Great Depression。 It's not impossible， and some things are obviously more relevant than others， but knowing exactly what caused what event is kind of like asking what caused the person right next to us to do what they did。 We can know certain things， but a lot less than we sometimes think。An important point though that Maza makes is that historical agents are obviously influenced by their culture and some of their actions are predictable。 But predictable does not mean that their actions are determined by their tribe or class status。 Now， part of postmodern influence was realizing that we are very context-driven creatures。 This means that when we are reading a historical source， we often don't have the hundred unspoken assumptions about the context that would have been apparent to the people involved。 For instance， up until the advent of modernity， most reading was aloud， says Maza。 This means that when we look at a text or an account about someone reading， we should try to keep in mind that this is how the text would have been processed and not in the super-private way that we read our novels in our bedrooms。Anyway， another reason to give a cheer for fallibility and to not overstate one's case about what caused this or that event， based entirely on sources。 This is a competent book: put it alongside Writing Ancient History to understand not just the "what" but the "how" of your world。 。。。more
Joseph Stieb
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It seems like there are 2 kinds of "thinking about history" books: argument driven ones that stake out a position on the nature/proper role of the discipline and sort of "grand tour" books that explore the nature and evolution of the discipline without staking out hard position。 Both can be valuable， and Maza's is a particularly valuable version of the second。 She guides you through six big questions about how history has been written， thought about， and debated， focusing on who has written it， It seems like there are 2 kinds of "thinking about history" books: argument driven ones that stake out a position on the nature/proper role of the discipline and sort of "grand tour" books that explore the nature and evolution of the discipline without staking out hard position。 Both can be valuable， and Maza's is a particularly valuable version of the second。 She guides you through six big questions about how history has been written， thought about， and debated， focusing on who has written it， whom/what/where have they written about， how it is produced， whether it should be focus on causes or meanings， and the extent to which it can achieve objectivity。 Each discussion is incredibly valuable and most of them are interesting， which isn't always easy when your accounting for intra-historian debates。 I especially appreciated that Maza gives straightforward， accessible examples to illustrate sometimes abstract questions; she has a real talent for that。 Probably the most valuable aspect of this book is the ability to see yourself and your own attitudes within the larger flow of how historians have thought， spoken， and written over time。 I know every reviewer is probably saying this， but I wish I had read this at the start of grad school！ Of course， it hadn't been written yet。Maza advances a few micro-arguments in this book。 She portrays history as a hybrid discipline in many ways: it is built on hard evidence but requires interpretation and narrative ability， it is both specialized and relatively easily accessed by outsiders because of its mostly straightforward methodologies， it is academic but highly public and probably more relevant to culture， politics， etc than any other field， it is a little bit social science and a little bit humanities。 Moreover， she portrays historians as a step or two removed from theory and intellectual trends。 We are rooted to contexts， to how things were at a specific time and place（s）， so we tend to eschew abstraction， although new theories and methodologies are often compatible with our work。 I think she's more optimistic about the ability of I think where I departed from Maza the most was on the issues of truth and objectivity。 She seemed to think that the linguistic turn， post-modernism， and other trends that attacked the notion of objective， scientific history 。 Of course， the idea that our positionality and the context of our own writing don't affect the history we produce is ludicrous， and we will never fully capture the past accurately; Ranke and positivism aren't coming back。 However， through collective effort， peer review， and constant debate we can narrow things down pretty well and create a basic factual narrative and a range of plausible interpretations/explanations。 There may be orthodox-revisionist debates all over history， but those actually narrow the field of explanation considerably and are often more resolvable than their advocates think。 The postmodern challenge really just boils down to common sense and humility。 When I read Maza's examples about how PM theory has shaped some historical work， I just kept thinking: you really didn't need the theory to say this！ Of course， for instance， historical documents are not unfiltered， unbiased， objective windows into "how things really were。" On the flip side， they can tell us about more than just discourses of the time period， especially if corroborated with other sources。 I have ranted elsewhere about this， but historians need the concept of truth and objectivity at least as goals and standards because we also need the concept of lies and inaccuracy。 If anything we need these things to maintain a shred of legitimacy with the general reader and student， who wants to know what happened and why without delving into too much epistemology。 So I definitely come down on the side that PM theory， critical theory， and other mostly French stuff may provide some methodological benefits and minor new insights， it hurts the discipline in terms of good writing， intellectual intelligibility， and public credibility。 Still， Maza is a perfectly objective （see what I did there） guide to these debates。My last thought about this excellent book is about what kind of class I would assign it to。 It isn't a "here is how to write your first real research paper" kind of book， so I would probably not assign all of it to an undergrad research seminar。 The chapters on the basic evolution of historiography I might assign to this kind of seminar。 It is definitely a great book for incoming graduate students to get a feel for the discipline's history and current state。 Still， my feeling is that the average undergrad would find it overwhelming and/or boring if they've never read a similar， and possibly more introductory， book before。 。。。more
Tyler Amick
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A very thought provoking book that comprehensively addresses the many ways history is made， the many questions historians ask （or should ask）， and the many ways historiography has evolved。 I highly recommend this book for anyone contemplating a career in history。
Grace Moore
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A very insightful and easy to read look into historical methodologies。
Awdur
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Wow。 Very thought-provoking and stimulating。 （also I kept thinking "I love this discipline" as I read） Wow。 Very thought-provoking and stimulating。 （also I kept thinking "I love this discipline" as I read） 。。。more
Matthew Rohn
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Engaging and accessible book about what history is， why we do it， and helpful background on the trajectory of many subfields。 Probably recommended for people who aren't formal historians but generally interested in the subject as a discipline rather than just a repository of fun facts Engaging and accessible book about what history is， why we do it， and helpful background on the trajectory of many subfields。 Probably recommended for people who aren't formal historians but generally interested in the subject as a discipline rather than just a repository of fun facts 。。。more
Adora
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Good overview of the discipline of history - what it is exactly， major trends in the field， important works。 Maza gives a nod to popular historians （as opposed to academic ones） but by and large the work is mainly about the academy。
Colin J。
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Good academic read。 Maza provides plenty of examples to illustrate each of her points。 These are interesting and help with the flow of the book。 Stretching read for undergraduate students。
Melody Schwarting
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Thinking About History is a really helpful look at the broad discipline that is history， covering current and historical issues in the theory of history。 For new historians like myself， it's a wonderful introduction to many types of history--social， cultural， micro-， public， et c。 Reading Maza's book helped me define myself as a women's historian focusing on socio-cultural and religious history。 My interest is almost exclusively women; religious topics fascinate me far more than non-religious to Thinking About History is a really helpful look at the broad discipline that is history， covering current and historical issues in the theory of history。 For new historians like myself， it's a wonderful introduction to many types of history--social， cultural， micro-， public， et c。 Reading Maza's book helped me define myself as a women's historian focusing on socio-cultural and religious history。 My interest is almost exclusively women; religious topics fascinate me far more than non-religious topics; and I choose to work with social and cultural documents/events/figures rather than political or military figures。 Maza helped me put to words my vocational interests， which is invaluable。As someone who came to history in the latter portion of the 2010s， I found Maza's survey of history constructive for my concept of the history of the discipline。 Chapters 1-3， "The History of Whom，" "Where，" and "What，" covers this in detail。 Chapter 4 looks at how history is produced， with wonderful sections on popular history， public history （museums， heritage sites， documentaries）， retractions， and more。 Finishing up the book are chapters on causality and meaning， and objectivity and skepticism。 I'm immediately refreshed anytime someone refutes George Santayana's proverb about repeating history， because it's impossible to actually repeat the past in the present。 There's so much more to history than moral lessons （though I find those worth drawing in non-academic settings）。I'm not the best person to answer whether this book is "accessible" or "easy to read" for non-academics， but I found the narrative to be engaging， most of the weeds to be in the footnotes rather than the main text， and the copious examples/illustrations to be memorable。 Thinking About History is worth checking out even if for a few chapters or sections。 。。。more
Elizabeth
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What a fun but also thought provoking book into history as an academic discipline （mostly） and a "thing" （more broadly）。 I'm not a historian， but I appreciated how Maza charted the course of historians' approaches to to their work。 I learned a lot and also enjoyed mapping on what's here to disciplines and fields I'm more familiar with。 I have little doubt other academics would feel the same way。 And for the "layperson" who has interests in history， there's also a lot to get from this monograph。 What a fun but also thought provoking book into history as an academic discipline （mostly） and a "thing" （more broadly）。 I'm not a historian， but I appreciated how Maza charted the course of historians' approaches to to their work。 I learned a lot and also enjoyed mapping on what's here to disciplines and fields I'm more familiar with。 I have little doubt other academics would feel the same way。 And for the "layperson" who has interests in history， there's also a lot to get from this monograph。 Maza is a lovely and engaging writer， and while her book is heavily footnoted （what good historian's wouldn't be？）， she makes her ideas clear and accessible throughout。 。。。more
Carol Tilley
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Misplaced my copy。 What I've read is excellent and I look forward to finishing it。 Misplaced my copy。 What I've read is excellent and I look forward to finishing it。 。。。more
Katie
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I had to read this for a historical research class in graduate school。 This book gives a great overview of viewing history from an historian's point of view and how history is written。 It is easy and engaging to read and gives a plethora of examples of other books on history。 Because of this book， I have added at least twenty new books to my Amazon wish list。 I had to read this for a historical research class in graduate school。 This book gives a great overview of viewing history from an historian's point of view and how history is written。 It is easy and engaging to read and gives a plethora of examples of other books on history。 Because of this book， I have added at least twenty new books to my Amazon wish list。 。。。more
HeyT
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I read this as part of a class on historical research methods and found it very enlightening about historical scholarship。 The book introduces many approaches to history and their contexts in an effort to get readers to really think about the questions history should be asking。 I found the narrative to be engaging and not overly academic in tone。 I'm glad that I read it and now have more of a sense of the overall trends and questions that historical scholarship has and will continue to cover。 I read this as part of a class on historical research methods and found it very enlightening about historical scholarship。 The book introduces many approaches to history and their contexts in an effort to get readers to really think about the questions history should be asking。 I found the narrative to be engaging and not overly academic in tone。 I'm glad that I read it and now have more of a sense of the overall trends and questions that historical scholarship has and will continue to cover。 。。。more
Stephanie Kaczkiewicz
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There’s no doubt that it’s well researched and firmly grounded。 There’s also no doubt that the more I read， the more I began to despise historians。 Her sections on popular literature， archives， museums， and heritage projects are particularly egregious。 Condescending language about the auxiliary members of the field has no place in a discipline whose current discourse is all about equity， diversity， and social justice。 But， par for the course， really。 Historians like to envision themselves as her There’s no doubt that it’s well researched and firmly grounded。 There’s also no doubt that the more I read， the more I began to despise historians。 Her sections on popular literature， archives， museums， and heritage projects are particularly egregious。 Condescending language about the auxiliary members of the field has no place in a discipline whose current discourse is all about equity， diversity， and social justice。 But， par for the course， really。 Historians like to envision themselves as heroes， and this book is simply another example of that。 。。。more
Megan
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Read for uni subject。
Saumitra Thakur
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This was a fun read。 I read it as a lay person after seeing a friend recommend it on social media。 Maza introduces historiography （what it is， the relevant recent debates） in a way that’s relevant for both lay people and for people in the field。 In the process， she summarizes several major debates in history and helped me contextualize other work I’d read。 She brings attention to assumptions we can easily take for granted， and discovering new assumptions I’d carried made the book unexpectedly fu This was a fun read。 I read it as a lay person after seeing a friend recommend it on social media。 Maza introduces historiography （what it is， the relevant recent debates） in a way that’s relevant for both lay people and for people in the field。 In the process， she summarizes several major debates in history and helped me contextualize other work I’d read。 She brings attention to assumptions we can easily take for granted， and discovering new assumptions I’d carried made the book unexpectedly fun （among others， that nations or things like them - and events important to them - are the default unit of history）。 It was a useful read， and it’s been a great reference for exploring further important history books。 。。。more
Jesse
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An interesting tour de force of the history of historyI found the book to be erudite and provided plenty to think about。 In my case， I wanted to be able to best help teach students to think as closely as possible like historians， and this book was very useful in illuminating how vague my original aim was。 Historians as a term and profession has varied over time and this book neatly outlines the varying positions。I did find it a bit hard going at times: the prose can be relentless at times， but i An interesting tour de force of the history of historyI found the book to be erudite and provided plenty to think about。 In my case， I wanted to be able to best help teach students to think as closely as possible like historians， and this book was very useful in illuminating how vague my original aim was。 Historians as a term and profession has varied over time and this book neatly outlines the varying positions。I did find it a bit hard going at times: the prose can be relentless at times， but it was more than rewarding to keep going and i am glad that I read this book 。。。more
Mills College Library
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900 M475 2017
Janice Liedl
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Fresh and clear: I'm going to be recommending this to our history majors， especially seniors and grad students。 Can't think of a better survey of the discipline， bolstered by clear examples of scholarship。 Fresh and clear: I'm going to be recommending this to our history majors， especially seniors and grad students。 Can't think of a better survey of the discipline， bolstered by clear examples of scholarship。 。。。more
AFMasten
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Look for my review in JAH。
Jehnie
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I wish I had had this book when I started grad school。 Most of what is in here I knew， having worked in the field for well over a decade now。 I did find gems that I will sprinkle into my own teaching。 This would be a great reader for an advanced undergrad history seminar or a first year grad student seminar to introduce majors themes and topics in the field。
Pearse Anderson
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Damn this was a good historiography read！ I learned so much about the different types of histories， the history of history books， and the seminal works in the field。 Also a great insight into cool books/thinkers to look into later。 Probably the best thing this semester。
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Thinking About History
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Thinking About History&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft