Historiography

<p>Nearly 2,500 historians and authors have told the story of America in the pages of our magazine</p>

Penelope J. Corfield studies urban, social and cultural history, plus approaches to Time and History. She is Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway, London University; Visiting Professor at Newcastle University; and has held visiting posts in Australia, Hungary, Japan, Sweden and the USA.…

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> A distinguished historian describes how America, suddenly thrust into nationhood without a history of its own, set out to create one. And what a splendid achievement it was!</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> By no means, said W. H. Prescott. Absolutely, said Lord Acton. The question remains hard—and intriguing</span> </p>

<p>To what extent did greatness inhere in the man, and to what degree was it a product of the situation?</p>

<p><span class="deck">Remembering Samuel Eliot Morrison</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">A distinguished journalist and former presidential adviser says that, to find the meaning of any news story, we must dig for its roots in the past.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">“Good fiction writers,” says the author, “write the kind of history that good historians can’t or don’t write.”</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Donald Kagan, a historian of the ancient world believes that, in every era, people have reacted to the demands of waging war in surprisingly similar ways, and that, to protect our national interests today, Americans must understand the choices that soldiers and statesmen made hundreds and even thousands of years ago.</span></p>

<p>A preeminent author recalls his experience as one of America's first combat historians, among a handful of men who accompanied soldiers into the bloodiest battles to write history as it was being made.</p>

<p>In 1962, the president wrote for <em>American Heritage</em> that the study of history is no mere pastime, but the means by which a nation establishes its sense of identity and purpose.</p>

<p>America's leading authority on the conflict explains why the Civil War still fascinates us.</p>