Anyone in non-fiction write about history?
- Thread starter HistorySleuth
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Just watched this video.
Really inspirational to learn about Robert Caro's dedication to research and writing not only the truth of the matter, but the comprehensive truth-- including the premise and inner workings. Not to say, "here's the facts," but to show the full picture and surrounding dynamics.
And 28 years on his biographies of Lyndon B. Johnson…! In the video his legal advisor, Andrew L. Hughes, says, "I hope I live long enough to get to volume four," and he's not kidding.
Wonderful to see an author who has put the story first and the result has been so good. Also, nice to learn about husband and wife working together on the books. Thanks again for the link!
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I'm a asst. county historian so I've been reading old writing for over 15 years. You get used to it. My favorite is personal letters and diaries. Those are the two things future historians will find few of in this digital age.
Oh! That's sad to think of, but you're right.
Aside from notebooks full of daily "to do" lists, everything I write (to others, journal entries, random thoughts, essays, and manuscripts) is all in digital form. Last time I kept a paper diary was when I was thirteen.
That's really neat you read a lot of handwritten letters and diaries. I like the diaries of soldiers. And I'd love to see the originals of Rilke's letters to his wife (published in Letters on Cezanne).
Aside from notebooks full of daily "to do" lists, everything I write (to others, journal entries, random thoughts, essays, and manuscripts) is all in digital form. Last time I kept a paper diary was when I was thirteen.
That's really neat you read a lot of handwritten letters and diaries. I like the diaries of soldiers. And I'd love to see the originals of Rilke's letters to his wife (published in Letters on Cezanne).
I suppose the digital-age equivalents are emails and personal blog entries. The real issue is getting access to them, unlike with papers a grandchild can't just bequeath/donate them away, especially if they're password-locked. That, and their easily-deleted nature as websites go belly-up (for example GreatestJournal has been toast for a long time now). Hosting costs money but then I guess letters and diaries took up descendants' and museums' valuable space...physical space is taxed/rented too
It will certainly be interesting to see how historians work with digital-age-specific sources.
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And no one saves their emails. The best thing about diaries is the day to day life. Seeing how they lived. Heck, now that flashes by Facebook in and instant and it's gone.
Specialized in ancient history, currently finished a 600 page Phd thesis, and numerous articles.
What i found out, after reading and going trough lot of stuff, is that good history books, those that are read not just by academicians but also laymen, are written by people who also master certain literary techniques.
What i found out, after reading and going trough lot of stuff, is that good history books, those that are read not just by academicians but also laymen, are written by people who also master certain literary techniques.
Chiming in late, but I'm also a huge Robert Caro fan. I've read all his books, and that's like saying I've climbed Mt Everest.
In fact for my own book project I've been trying to emulate Caro's style of research, which, in a word, is "obsessive."
I just posted in another thread more about my nonfiction project.
But yeah. Caro is my favorite nonfiction author and the one whose writing style and research methods I've been most influenced by.
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I'll have to make a point of watching the Video now that is listed up thread. My book with my publisher came out well and I'm still writing a quarterly for work. I recently took over as county historian and I'm doing a proper inventory. We have pages of an 1807 land survey that covers a nice chunk of western New York, all hand written of course. Some of the trees it describes are no longer found in my area.
Nice! Good to know you've published. Cool gig as country historian...how does one land something like that?
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We have a collection of WWI letters written home a few months before Christmas after it ended. Very cool to read about a French family that took him in for Christmas dinner.