Interpreting
the Past: The Historical Essay
Recreating the past is an interpretive task. Seen without a
coherent framework, past events seem merely random and meaningless.
Participants in historical events and processes, of course, try to make
immediate sense out of the happenings of their time, but often they disagree
over what occurs and all too frequently fail to see any clear pattern or
meaning in it. Later historians thus inherit the task of trying to find
the order and significance in events. To do so, they have to posit a
framework of interpretation that allows them to see some structure or
significance. In that sense, historians do more than describe the past:
they give it coherence and meaning.
The
historical essay, whether in the form of a short article or a book-length
study, is the mode in which most historians present their
interpretations. Unlike textbooks, which mainly attempt to describe the
course of events, these essays attempt to uncover the underlying significance
of what happened. They too may present a general outline of “facts,”
but they do so to establish what is relevant and meaningful from their
particular perspective. The historical essay, then, is primarily a
persuasive rather than a descriptive piece. As such, it is based upon an
argument that is clearly stated at the beginning and systematically developed
throughout the entire paper. Given
the nature of the historical essay, it cannot be read as a simple statement of
fact. The argument it makes must be clearly identified and weighed
against the evidence it presents and the evidence available from other
sources. Thus every aspiring historian has to learn how to read such
essays with a careful and critical eye—and to write them in
turn with care and critical acumen.
Evaluate
Von Laue’s Essay in One of Your Own
To ensure that you begin to develop
your skills along these lines, you are required to write a short essay (of six
to eight typed pages in length) in which you evaluate Theodore H. Von Laue’s
book, The World Revolution of Westernization. The Twentieth Century in
Global Perspective. Your aim in doing so should be threefold.
First you have to explicate what point or “thesis” he makes about the
modern world. Then you have to outline and assess the way he tries to
support this claim: through what stages does he build an argument; on what
kind of evidence does each rest; and how valid does this evidence seem
relative to what else you have learned in this course? Finally, you should
draw some conclusion of your own from your analysis of Von Laue’s argument
about whether his essay makes the modern world more meaningful or not.
You could, for example, indicate how something he points out seems a new or
important insight. On the other hand, you could identify something he
left out or failed to see. Or, again, you could show how something he
said may lead to other conclusions or need qualification to be valid.
Good
essays observe good form. It is customary to give them names, usually on
a title page. In naming yours, use a title that would give a person
doing a bibliographic search a clear indication of the content rather than
some catchy but ambiguous phrase. Be sure that the copy you turn in has
been carefully proofed for errors and neatly printed. Nothing undermines
credibility more than obvious mechanical mistakes. Unacknowledged use of
other people's words and ideas constitutes plagiarism, a serious intellectual
crime. Learn how to cite the source of such things in a standard form
according to a style manual; historians generally use the University of
Chicago style notes and bibliography (check the History Department's web page on
Research Guides for help on this and other rhetorical matters at http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/history/HistoryResearchGuides.htm).
Be certain, too, to sign (and observe) the Lawrence honor code.