A friend passed on this article by Lt. Col. Robert Bateman. A good look at what historians do, how their job differs from that of a journalist (ideally, anyway), and how their opinions are just as biased as anyone else’s. In summary:
In other words, while journalists may write the first draft of history, among historians there is no such thing as a “last draft.” There is only the most current, and the one certain thing within history is that it will change again soon enough. – R. Bateman
Check it out.
[…] McPherson’s “New” Book on Lincoln 31 10 2008 Check out this review of the New James McPherson book, Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief, by James Durney on TOCWOC. Astute and valid criticism, I think. McPherson is a fine writer, a synthesiszer by reputation, but his choices of what to synthesize seem somehwhat pedestrian. While on that subject, here are some thoughts on synthesis from this earlier Robert Bateman article I linked to in this post: […]
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