In my post on Definitive Biographies, I remarked that I was skeptical of Jon Meacham's book on Andrew Jackson because he is a journalist and not a historian. I am embarrassed about my ignorance. I was right that he is not a historian but I had no idea how many of the great popular history writers are also not historians.
I only recently learned this fact that many of my favorite / respected authors of history do not have PhD's in history. David McCollough only has a BA in English Literature. Ron Chernow also has only a bachelor's degree (granted, I haven't read his stuff, but his book on Alexander Hamilton is on the top of my history list). Robert Caro has a degree in English. And Doris Kearns Goodwin has a PhD but in Government.
This article in the New York Review of Books, which by the way is a glowing review of Chernow's George Washington biography, explains this development over the last 50 years or so. It seems that historians are busy specializing in very specific issues and are mostly debating each other. While this is valuable for debates in history, it is usually not very accessible to a non-historian audience.
So Jon Meacham, I owe you an apology. And when I make time to read more biographies, I'll be sure to check out your book American Lion.
No comments:
Post a Comment