Introduction

As a public historian, I have been taught to analyze how people are "doing" history and discuss the effectiveness of different methods. Writing is one of the most important parts of any academic discipline, and the writing of academic history is often abysmal.

This past semester, I began reading through a variety of classic novels, in addition to my required reading for graduate school. I found that, as I read, I was able to incorporate some of the authors' specific narrative skills into my academic writing; this made my writing so much better. This blog is designed to discuss and question how these books might be applied to help historians write history better.

Historians often will rack their brains to find out how to apply new technology and how to increase user interest in historical institutions, but just keep emulating each other in their academic tone and style. Some historians, like Simon Schama and Laurel Ulrich Thatcher have realized that they need to do something drastic with the actual prose of their works if they are to reach a broader audience.