What is history? Does the history of your family or community count?
Why should we study history?
Who writes it? Is it only scholars?
What kinds of documents are there out there to check? What kind of artifacts? Where do we find these things? How do we analyze them?
Whether for school or for publication, how do you write about history?
These books show you the way:
Reading and Writing American History: An Introduction to the Historian's Craft, by Peter Hoffer and William Stueck (oversize TPB, 1994, two volumes, each $2)
Volume I covers the years up through the Civil War.
Volume II covers from Reconstruction through the Persian Gulf War.
Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You, by David E. Kyvig (TPB, 1996, $2.50) -- SOLD
(Writing this makes me think of my father who loved history. After retirement he tried to find out about the Ohio Valley where he spent his teenage summers. I never paid attention till it was too late. Luckily, he had written down what he had found, but it could so, so easily have been lost, just because I didn't want to listen. So take my advice, and write down your stories and histories. Even if no one wants to listen to you now, someone in the future may.)
Look for these books in the writing section.
