The self-help guru Stephen R. Covey died in 2012. His
best-known book was The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People. Here is my own stab at advice for historians:
1. Take nothing on
authority. Don’t believe what Professor X says just because he or she is a
considered a leading specialist on the topic. Work out for yourself if the evidence
and argument stack up.
2. Go the extra mile in
the search for information. But also know when you have hit diminishing
returns.
3. Listen to the
evidence. Don’t just cherry-pick the bits that happen to suit your argument
– or that fit with established interpretations. Embrace and try to understand
the inherent messiness of the historical record.
4. Verify your
quotations. Check a) that the person that they are attributed to actually
said them, and b) that previous historians have not wrenched them out of
context (see above).
5. Pay attention to the seemingly
banal. If you neglect the everyday, you won’t be able to understand the
exceptional.
6. Consider the form as
well as the content of your sources. Ask not only ‘What does this document
say?’ but ‘Why and how was it created, and what functions did it serve?’
7. Finally, remember that
your mission is to explain. This inevitably involves a measure of simplification.
The biggest challenge you face is to do this with integrity.
