REVIEW
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"How to write History that people want to read" Available from HTANSW: |
Aimed at a wide audience, from family historians to PhD students, this book is as much about ‘how to’ research as ‘how to’ write history. Moreover, because there is a good deal of discussion around issues raised by the research and writing of history, it is also about historiography at a general and quite accessible level.
The authors provide a very useful overview of what is involved in planning a project, making the best use of a variety of sources and negotiating libraries and archives. What is emphasised is the interrelationship between research and writing: ‘Research and writing are not strictly separate processes … Through writing, we usually process what we have discovered in the archives … Only in the writing do we realise, very often, just what our argument is …’ In other words, write early!
Chapters on the actual writing process address a range of topics that are relevant to writing at all levels, such as dealing with writer’s block, editing and footnoting. Most interesting, given that this is a manual on how to write history, is the focus on narrative structure and writing style. Encouragingly, Curthoys and McGrath suggest that history writing should be interesting. Hence, there are suggestions about borrowing from the techniques of fiction writers. However, this leads to the caution that all history writing must remain source based because it is not fiction. This is a concise and definite answer to the question posed by Is History Fiction?, a recent book by Ann Curthoys and John Docker. In acknowledging this, Curthoys and McGrath present a brief discussion dealing with issues such as narrative structure and authorial voice in history writing. It is a very useful distillation for those of us who may struggle with the longer versions offered by the likes of Michel Foucault and Hayden White.
Curthoys and McGrath offer some reassuringly traditional views on the merits of chronological organisation, use of the active voice in writing and the significance of plot and character. There is also some interesting advice on the acknowledgement of different perspectives and the use of multiple voices:
Written histories that simply juxtapose different accounts have their limitations … History writers and producers primarily seek to make sense of the past – so alongside the recognition of the ‘point of view’ and the incompatibility of different viewpoints, it is important to recognise the reader’s ‘desire for the truth’: … You need to decide what you think happened, and why, and convey that decision to the reader … you need to present a strong authorial voice.
This book provides a very useful introduction to the researching and writing of history. It is particularly recommended to teachers and students of Extension History.
Paul Kiem, HTANSW
