Reading history books well: choosing authors, notes and footnotes

Study the historian

• Who wrote it? An academic specialist, a journalist, a retired soldier, a novelist? None of these is disqualifying, but each brings different strengths and blind spots.
• When was it written? A book from the 1950s may be beautifully written yet unaware of archives opened or evidence found since.
• What is their angle? The introduction usually says what the author is arguing against. Reading it carefully tells you the argument of the whole book.

Choosing what to read

• Reviews in serious publications and history journals are more useful than star ratings. Reviewers who know the field will point out errors and omissions.
• University presses put books through peer review. That does not guarantee readability, but it filters out much nonsense.
• Look at the bibliography and notes before buying. A book on a large subject with almost no references is asking you to take it on trust.
• Read more than one book on a subject, ideally by authors who disagree. You learn more from a real debate than from any single account.
• Short introductions from series aimed at general readers are an efficient first step before a doorstop volume.

Footnotes and endnotes

• Footnotes sit at the foot of the page; endnotes are gathered at the back of the book or chapter. Popular history often uses endnotes so the text looks less academic.
• A note usually points to a source, but it may also explain a disagreement, add a detail or admit uncertainty. Some of the best material in a history book is hidden in its notes.
• You do not need to read every note. Check them when a claim seems surprising, controversial or too neat.
• Notice what kind of sources are cited. Archival documents and contemporary accounts suggest original research; a chain of other popular books suggests repackaging.

Reading actively

1. Read the introduction and conclusion first to understand the argument.
2. Keep a timeline and a list of key people as you go, especially for unfamiliar periods.
3. Use maps. Many arguments about wars, trade and migration make sense only with geography in view.
4. Mark the claims the whole book depends on, and check how well they are supported.
5. After each chapter, write two or three sentences summarising what the author argued, not just what happened.

Warning signs

• Certainty about motives and private thoughts that no source could reveal.
• Invented dialogue presented as fact.
• One cause explaining everything.
• Heroes and villains with no complications.
• Dismissing all other historians as biased or part of a conspiracy.
• Statistics with no source.

Historiography