FREE ESSAY ON THE TRUTH IN HISTORY

THE TRUTH IN HISTORY

We are all taught essentially the same things in school. We learn of the presidents and
what they did and when they did it. But we know, as adults, that we did not get all the
facts or even a portion of the correct facts in regards to history. In the essay, "The
Historian and His Facts," Edward Hallett Carr shares a bit of insight into the people who
record history and write about it. We are given a deeper understanding of historians and
just what it is they do and what they know. By doing so Carr gives the reader an
opportunity to question much of the history that we are exposed to and taught. The
historian Barbara Tuchman says that the most common question asked of historians by the
public is whether history serves a purpose and whether we can learn from the lessons of
history (Tuchman 608). 
Carr approaches the subject of history from an educated and clear standpoint. He makes
the reader think about all the history that has been read while growing up (Carr 595).
Carr, whether directly or indirectly, points out that so much of the history we receive
is prejudiced by the historians (594). Another issue that the essay brought to mind and
examined was the issue of the historians themselves (Carr 596). They also have many
different preferences and prejudices. Some of those prejudices and points of view are
very influential and very set. Historians have their own ideas of how great or wondrous a
person or event was in history and therefore they will easily influence their accounts of
the information provided to them. The historians themselves must be as unbiased and
unprejudiced as they can be in order to give an accurate account of the information and
present it to the student and researcher of history in a truthful manner.
Tuchman argues against learning from history in a pragmatic sense (604). This approach
would treat historical research as a technical process. Tuchman does not see history as
sources of magazines, newspapers, and memoirs, but views them as raw materials. She
argues that human beings are always and finally the subject of history. She defines
history as "the past events of which we have knowledge and refrain from worrying about
those of which we have none" (Tuchman 605). Tuchman believes that history is the record
of human behavior, the most fascinating subject of all (607). She also believes that the
main role of historians is to stay within the evidence.
Only so many people can record any event in history and only a portion of these
recordings are likely to be seen. We can probably rely on the dates and times of events,
but those particulars are not necessarily what make up the meat of history. It is the
people, the circumstance, and the events that make up history and teach us who we are and
were we, as a people, have come from. The common people have always been an important
part of history and without the recording of their information much of history is lost.
Even people who all attend the same event will give different accounts of the
occurrences, so how can we expect the historians to be completely infallible? We can't.
It is the bias of historians that has kept us from learning of important facts throughout
history. And when we do learn of the facts they differ from the next dramatically at
times. Carr does an excellent job in addressing these issues whether directly or by
inference. Tuchman also makes some valid remarks regarding the role and purpose of
historian. In the end, the question is did we get all of the facts regarding history, or
was it just the historians opinion of the events? 
Bibliography
Carr, Edward Hallett. "The Historian and His Facts." What is History? Knopf/Macmillian,
1961. Rpt. in Comley, et al. 593-602.
Comley, Nancy, et al., eds. Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing. NY: St. Martin's,
1998.
Tuchman, Barbara. "When Does History Happen?" Originally titled Can History Be Served Up
Hot? The New York Times Book Review 1964: 1,28,30. Rpt. in Comley, et al. 604-11.