Comments on: Historians need to stop obsessing over writing books http://inpropriapersona.com/historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/ Law + tech + history, from a JD/PhD graduate student in the history of science. Sat, 19 May 2012 17:25:23 +0000 hourly 1 By: johnsonmaryj /historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/#comment-79 johnsonmaryj Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:55:37 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=1317#comment-79 RT @TonySearl: True dat. Historians need to stop obsessing over writing (boring) books <a href="http://bit.ly/d9yiXq" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/d9yiXq</a> via @AddToAny <i>This comment was originally posted on <a href="http://twitter.com/johnsonmaryj/statuses/9478998923" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></i> RT @TonySearl: True dat. Historians need to stop obsessing over writing (boring) books http://bit.ly/d9yiXq via @AddToAny
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]]> By: TonySearl /historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/#comment-81 TonySearl Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:55:41 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=1317#comment-81 <p>True dat. Historians need to stop obsessing over writing (boring) books <a href="http://bit.ly/d9yiXq" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/d9yiXq</a> via @AddToAny</p> <p><i>This comment was originally posted on <a href="http://twitter.com/TonySearl/statuses/9464392078" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></i></p> True dat. Historians need to stop obsessing over writing (boring) books http://bit.ly/d9yiXq via @AddToAny

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]]> By: Richard Stacy /historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/#comment-80 Richard Stacy Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:48:00 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=1317#comment-80 <p>You are right – it is too early to write off books. What we are realising is that a book is primarily a means of distribution – not a type of content. We can also now see that some types of content fit well with the means of book distribution (i.e. long form, narrative content) and others do not (non-fiction, reference information etc). The type of content that less well adapted to the form of distribution that is a book will therefore flee to other digital homes and also change in the process as it is freed from the need to conform to the rules that attached to books as means of distribution.More on this here – Books, iPads and Chickens</p> <p><i>This comment was originally posted on <a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/176556#13139" title="“Are books -- electronic or not -- becoming "fringe media"?”" rel="nofollow">Social Media Today</a></i></p> You are right – it is too early to write off books. What we are realising is that a book is primarily a means of distribution – not a type of content. We can also now see that some types of content fit well with the means of book distribution (i.e. long form, narrative content) and others do not (non-fiction, reference information etc). The type of content that less well adapted to the form of distribution that is a book will therefore flee to other digital homes and also change in the process as it is freed from the need to conform to the rules that attached to books as means of distribution.More on this here – Books, iPads and Chickens

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]]> By: Kristopher Nelson /historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/#comment-78 Kristopher Nelson Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:50:08 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=1317#comment-78 Ah, great question. The lawyer in me (of course) says he's both a model and a warning. Certainly he was engaged in social issues, and certainly he made history matter to people outside the academy. I would encourage all humanities scholars to look to him for a model in this sense. On the other hand, his engagement was normative in a way that I think historians especially ought to be careful of. It became easy for some to simply dismiss him and his work as biased, and therefore untrustworthy, due to his explicit "left-wing" views. While I have issues with the potential existence of a true neutrality or objective perspective, and prefer people explain up front where they are coming from, I do think that explicitly advancing an agenda through one's work as an historian is potentially problematic, although making judgments about history based on historical evidence is indeed what historians ought to do. When I speak of "engagement" with contemporary society, I don't particularly mean in a normative or prescriptive fashion. Rather, I was thinking of connecting history and historical events with modern issues, to help illuminate how we got where we are, how others have dealt with similar situations in the past, and so on, with the goal of giving people more tools to make better decisions about contemporary problems. Ah, great question. The lawyer in me (of course) says he's both a model and a warning. Certainly he was engaged in social issues, and certainly he made history matter to people outside the academy. I would encourage all humanities scholars to look to him for a model in this sense.

On the other hand, his engagement was normative in a way that I think historians especially ought to be careful of. It became easy for some to simply dismiss him and his work as biased, and therefore untrustworthy, due to his explicit "left-wing" views.

While I have issues with the potential existence of a true neutrality or objective perspective, and prefer people explain up front where they are coming from, I do think that explicitly advancing an agenda through one's work as an historian is potentially problematic, although making judgments about history based on historical evidence is indeed what historians ought to do.

When I speak of "engagement" with contemporary society, I don't particularly mean in a normative or prescriptive fashion. Rather, I was thinking of connecting history and historical events with modern issues, to help illuminate how we got where we are, how others have dealt with similar situations in the past, and so on, with the goal of giving people more tools to make better decisions about contemporary problems.

]]> By: Jim Milles /historians-need-to-stop-obsessing-over-writing-books/#comment-77 Jim Milles Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:11:10 +0000 http://www.inpropriapersona.com/?p=1317#comment-77 I think of the late Howard Zinn as a prime example of a socially engaged historian, but I don't think his work was necessarily highly respected by other academic historians. What did you think of Zinn, and do you think he offers a model, or a warning, for other historians? I think of the late Howard Zinn as a prime example of a socially engaged historian, but I don't think his work was necessarily highly respected by other academic historians. What did you think of Zinn, and do you think he offers a model, or a warning, for other historians?

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