Making History

How do historians create their histories? What role do the historian's viewpoint and method play in what we accept as truth? Answer these and other questions as you go inside the minds of our greatest historians and explore the idea of written history as it has shaped humanity's story over 2,000 years. These 24 intriguing lectures introduce you to the seminal thinking of historians such as: Herodotus, considered by many the first history writer, who replaced the poetic imagination of Homer with istorieis , or inquiry; Livy, the author of a 142-volume didactic history of Rome that spanned three continents and seven centuries; David Hume, who framed English history with an evolutionary vision of economic, political, and intellectual freedom; and Edward Gibbon, whose monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire forged a complex picture of epic collapse and decay. From the dramatic and military exploits of Xenophon and Thucydides in ancient Greece to Macaulay's dynamic career in the 19th century, from the bloody era of Christian Reformation to the revolutions of the Enlightenment, Professor Guelzo takes you into the trenches with great minds throughout history. And beneath the surface of written history, you'll examine the processes that create accepted views of historical events, and you'll uncover the ways in which understanding how history is written is crucial to understanding historical events themselves. The journey rewards you with an unforgettable insight into our human heritage and the chance to look with discerning eyes at human events in their deeper meanings.