Why History?: An Introduction

Quite frankly, a lot of people find studying history boring. A lot more people find public history interesting, but have never looked through an academic book (and those people probably have never thought about the difference between public history and academic history, or the fact that not every history book is academic). Even more people have no idea what someone would do with a B.A—let alone an M.A.—in history. All of this inevitably leads to polite nods when people find out what I’m studying, an instantaneous discussion of what I think about the latest period drama or History Channel show (usually based in an era or on an event which I don’t study at all), or a bewildered, “So you want to teach, then?”

The answer to that last question is no. Or, at least not in a school. We’ll get to that.

Since this is so commonly the case, and I’m sure many budding historians have run into these scenarios, I thought I would do a blog mini-series on why I love history, what got me into history, and what makes studying history so compelling (to me). I mean, why do history at all? Beyond the obvious joy of pointing out glaring inaccuracies in historical movies and television shows (The Tudors, anyone?) what is studying history really contributing to anyone and are we actually doomed to repeat it? Hopefully, I will answer these questions and more over the course of the next few weeks or months, depending on how often I write these posts.

“Why History?” will not be published daily or even uninterruptedly, because I will of course keep writing about other things in between “Why History” installments, but I feel like these blog posts might help clarify what exactly a graduate student in history—or at least, this graduate student—really thinks and feels about her chosen field.

Welcome to “Why History?”

(EDIT: As this was originally a mini-series on another blog, some of the information about it-- such as that it won't be published uninterruptedly-- is now void.)