The Historian's Toolbox: A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History - Softcover

"Robert C. Williams delivers an up-to-date and compelling tour through the methodology of academic, historical research. The book would be easy to ready quickly, but it is worth studying slowly." - Jason Ripper, Everett Community College"

Now updated and expanded for the electronic age, this best-selling "how-to" manual introduces students, teachers, and anyone interested in history to the theory, craft, and methods of the discipline and provides a series of "tools" to help them read, research, and understand the past. The first part of the book is a stimulating introduction to the key elements of history - evidence, narrative, judgement - that explores how the study and concepts of history have evolved over the centuries. The second part guides readers through the "workshop" of history. Unlocking the historian's "toolbox," it reveals the tricks of the trade including documents, sources, footnotes, bibliographies, chronologies, and more. This section also covers issues of interpretation, speculation, professional ethics, and controversial issues such as plagiarism, historical hoaxes, and conspiracy theories. New for this expanded edition, part three of the book includes chapters on everyday history, oral history, material culture, public history, event analysis, and history on the Internet that will resonate with a new generation of readers. Written in an engaging and entertaining style, and filled with interesting examples, "The Historian's Toolbox" opens up an exciting world of historical research for anyone interested in the past.