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... As history is a very wide subject and depends on the historian picking out information from a vast selection of facts, can their prejudice or bias consciously or subconsciously never become part of the history they are writing? ... One of these is what the word prejudice actually means and how we can relate this to history. ... ” (1) With this interpretation of the word in mind, how can we relate this to history and the historian and determine whether the historian can ever be free of prejudice? ...
History is a matter of the historian’s views and Interpretations. As history is not just the collecting of facts, but gathering together this factual information, and then trying to put these events into context, the historical information that is written down is open to prejudice and bias. ... As E Dance said in his book History the betrayer “It is commonly supposed that history is over and done with, and therefore unalterable. The basis of this idea is that history is the past. But history is not the past-it is the record of the past. If there is no record, there is no history; if there is a record there is a recorder, whose views and prejudices enter into his record, and colour it. ... A good historian will seek out all the best available evidence, but this depends on the time that they are writing and the place. If the historian does not have all the facts then their view and interpretation of the subject matter will be prejudiced. For instance in Britain official papers are kept confidential for 30years, if an historian is writing about a subject where the papers remain confidential, then the historian does not have the all the facts and so their view will be biased, as they are only working on limited evidence. ... This type of prejudice is hard to get away from in history. ... J Tosh expresses this view, in his book the pursuit of history, The facts are not given, they are selected.
Approximate Word count = 1638
Approximate Pages = 6.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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