THE GREATEST HISTORIAN?
Clio, Muse of History
Rare question post….
Who might the greatest historian be ? A great dead white male like Herodotus ? Gibbon ? Thucydides ? Ranke ? A modern like Frederick Jackson Turner, Charles Beard or Richard Hofstadter ? A ” popular” historian like Stephen Ambrose, Howard Zinn or David McCullough ? Venerable and prolific men of letters like Bernard Lewis, C. Vann Woodward or Robert Conquest ? A non-Westerner like Ibn Khaldun ?
Who has most influenced us in terms of what we think history is, and should be ?
July 11th, 2006 at 12:57 am
There are lots of candidates including Herodotus, Thucydides, and Tacitus among the ancients.
However, I think my pick would be Zhu Xi and the other Song dynasty scholars who invented Chinese history. Their contributions were many: historicity (the notion that things change over time), the first to clearly recognize the propaganda value of history among others.
July 11th, 2006 at 4:50 am
That was a superb nominee Dave. I wish I had thought of that one. Bravo !
July 11th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Thanks, Mark. Were any historians ever more influential than the Song dynasty scholars? Whatever you know about Chinese history prior to about 1200, whether you’re Chinese or Western, you know because of them.
July 11th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
My vote: Thucydides.
I admit that I do not know the work of “Zhu Xi and the other Song dynasty scholars”.
Please provide suggestions to the best books in English for those who would like to familiarize themselves with this scholar and his school.
July 12th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Sam Crane would certainly be a better choice for such a recommendation than I. Maybe Bary’s book or perhaps Daniel Gardner’s.
July 12th, 2006 at 3:09 am
Don’t feel bad Lex – the only reason I’ve heard of Zhu Xi was from an undergraduate class with a history prof who was (like Professor Crane) deep into classical Chinese philosophy. Dave was the first mention I’d heard in years.
July 12th, 2006 at 5:05 am
Interesting, Zhu Xi has a Wikipedia article which makes him sound like almost purely a philosopher. Not real helpful at getting a clear picture of where to go for the works of history … .
I will also add as a candidate for greatest historian: F.W. Maitland. Here are Alan Macfarlane’s chapters on Maitland from his book The Riddle of the Modern World. Here is a lecture by Macfarlane about Maitland
July 13th, 2006 at 7:55 am
This is a great thread.
I suggest Daniel J. Boorstin, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, and Will Durant.
July 13th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
I wondered if somebody was going to nominate Durant :o)