Historically Thinking

In an essay on Plato, the German philosopher Josef Pieper suggests that for Plato “the natural habitat of truth is conversation. Truth is enacted in dialogue, in discussion, in discourse: in other words, in language and the word.” Russ Roberts is not a philosopher but an economist, as the many listeners to his extremely popular […]

Conversations about historical knowledge and how we achieve it

Christian Cameron has written a lot of novels. A lot. He writes novels faster than some people can read them. He writes so many novels that it’s easier to count the series of novels he has written than the number of novels he has written. His are novels of historical action and adventure. Yet, unlike […]

Christian Cameron has written a lot of novels. A lot. He writes novels faster than some people can read them. He writes so many novels that it's easier to count the series of novels he has written than the number of novels he has written.

His are novels of historical action and adventure. Yet, unlike many novels of that sort, Cameron takes a great deal of care to create mentalities and dialogue that are of the eras in which he writes. And, beneath the action, are a number of ideas that Cameron is working out–as well as a wide variety of life experiences.

Today he and I discuss some of those experiences, and his penchant for "experimental archaeology" and "historic martial arts," and how he brings them to bear on his writing. We spend most of our time talking about his latest series, featuring William Gold, an English mercenary in Italy and the Mediterranean during the middle of the 14th century.

And in a month or so, Cameron will have published the first novel of yet another series. It's hard to believe that he does anything but write. But he does. He really does. 

For Further Investigation

The Ill-Made Knight, the first of Christian Cameron's stories of William Gold

A small crowd of other Christian Cameron books, gathered in one place 

Historical Novel Society

Nick Rennison, 100 Must-Read Historical Novels

An Inventory of the Skills of Historical Thinking The Essential Skill Comprehension: What do the documents say and mean? Accurately reconstructs the meaning of documents. No misreadings, serious misconceptions of authors’ meanings, or relevant documents ignored.   The Six Core Skills Question to Thesis: What questions make historical sense of these documents? Asks a […]

An Inventory of the Skills of Historical Thinking

The Essential Skill

Comprehension: What do the documents say and mean? Accurately reconstructs the meaning of documents. No misreadings, serious misconceptions of authors’ meanings, or relevant documents ignored.

 

The Six Core Skills

Question to Thesis: What questions make historical sense of these documents? Asks a good historical question, which is then answered in the form of a thesis that makes a significant claim.

Connecting: How does a document fit into a bigger picture? Connects information from various sources: compares & contrasts, corroborates testimony, observes interesting links.

Evidence: How do I know what I claim to know about my question? Reasons inductively from

Cognitive facts or cases to a general conclusion; reasons deductively from authoritative statements to an unknown;

Skills allows evidence to correct preconceived opinions; supports thesis with evidence.

Multiple Perspectives: How might others plausibly interpret this evidence differently? Considers more than one point of view; rebuts or concedes objections to thesis.

Aware of Limits: What do I not know that I need to know? What problems remain? Is appropriately self-critical; admits contrary evidence; qualifies arguments; recognizes limits to one’s historical knowledge.

Sourcing: What is this document good for? Identifies sources, contextualizes & assesses documents for bias, reliability, relevance, point of view.

 

The Four Advanced Skills

Change/Causality: What has changed, and why? Recognizes and explains notable change over time. Attentive to multiple causation; avoids simplistic monocausal explanations.

Context: What background knowledge helps us understand the documents? Provides accurate, helpful background knowledge that helps to interpret texts in context.

Research: Where can I find more evidence? Uses relevant, significant sources found on one’s own: in other books, on scholarly web sites, etc.

Narrative: How can I make sense of the evidence with a story? Uses the conventions of narrative art to give intelligible meaning to evidence from the past.

Well, of course college tuition is a problem--everyone seems to know that. And there are of course lots of reasons why this has occurred. But as with so many matters concerning higher education, it's amazing how poorly understood the problem is particularly by the people who are about to pay the bill. As my guest today Mark Salisbury says, college tuition is like the price of a car–it's not really the actual price, just the beginning of the negotiation. Yet, to continue that metaphor, sometimes it's like going to a Buick dealer and finding that everything is priced like a Porsche.

This is the third conversation I've had with Mark Salisbury. Previously he was Guru of Institutional Research at Augustana College (which was not his real title). Now he's broken free and established his own enterprise, TuitionFit, which is designed to crowd-source information regarding tuition to create a catalog of the prices actually offered to students by colleges. We talk about tuition, why where you go to school doesn't matter as much as parents think, and how to overcome the information problem of tuition.

For Further Investigation

Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much

A recent study from Stanford finding that the ranking of the school you attend doesn't matter–"A 'Fit' Over Rankings: Why College Engagement Matters More Than Selectivity"

Dale and Krueger's oft-cited study finding that where you go to school doesn't really matter here and a Huff Post column expanding on this idea

Well, of course college tuition is a problem–everyone seems to know that. And there are of course lots of reasons why this has occurred. But as with so many matters concerning higher education, it’s amazing how poorly understood the problem is particularly by the people who are about to pay the bill. As my […]

Frederic Tudor was the “Ice King” of early nineteenth century America. It was Tudor who realized that ice, harvested from New England ponds and rivers could be shipped to the Caribbean. Shipping was cheap, because ships often went empty to pick up cargo; insulation could be made from sawdust, a waste product of the […]