The best books on historiography and writing of

There are many titles out there on the topic of historiography and as well on how best to research and write history, but would members be willing to share what they think are the cream of the crop from their own experience?

Many thanks.....

Ur.

The main work we focused on in my Historiography class is The Idea of History by R. G. Collingwood. This is probably the best work coming from the "traditional" view of historiography. Admittedly it can be wordy and dry at times, but ultimately its worth slogging through the dry bits to understand his argument as a whole.

I have several in my wish list but I have only read two, The Historians Craft and Who Owns History. Both were good but the history of the first made it stand out.

I welcome some ideas on what to read next.

I read Collingwood as an undergrad. Good book.
Edward Hallett Carr's What is History? is a classic.
Conklin and Stromberg's Heritage and Challenge: The History and Theory of History is worthy of attention.
If you're looking for a basic primer on which to start developing some of the skills Historians are taught then Furay and Salvouris's The methods and skills of history : a practical guide is a good start. Get the latest edition.

Daniel

Many thanks folks; most grateful for the guidance.

Ur.

I forgot to add
Nearby History (bad touchstone) by David Kyvig. Good source for best practices when studying genealogy or combing through the local historical society archives.

Daniel

Great recommendations. Some of these titles are definitely on my wish list now.

What are the top historiography tagged books?

Most often tagged historiography

What Is History? by Edward Hallet Carr (104)
The Historian's Craft by Marc Bloch (72)
In Defence of History by Richard J. Evans (66)
That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the… by Peter Novick (65)
Historians' Fallacies : Toward a Logic of Historical… by David H. Fischer (59)
Telling the Truth About History by Joyce Oldham Appleby (53)
Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor (53)
Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern by Ernst Breisach (50)
A History of Histories: Epics, Chronicles, Romances and… by John Burrow (48)
The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past by John Lewis Gaddis (39)
Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in… by Hayden White (38)
History and Historians by Mark T. Gilderhus (37)
History: A Very Short Introduction by John H. Arnold (34)
After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection by James West Davidson (32)
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History… by James W. Loewen (31)
Practicing History: Selected Essays by Barbara W. Tuchman (30)
Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific… by Georg G. Iggers (30)
The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present by Fritz Stern (28)
The Pursuit of History (4th Edition) by John Tosh (28)
The Idea of History: With Lectures 1926-1928 by R. G. Collingwood (27)

I am currently rereading my copy of Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern by Ernst Breisach. It is a great read, and an even better reference book.

Fantastic!

Most Grate Full!!

Ur.

I'm slowly reading The Historian's Craft by Marc Bloch. I think the story behind it is almost more interesting then the book itself.

#10: I would certainly agree with you on the good reference aspect, but to the book being a great read (though one can learn a lot) I would beg to differ. My MA classmates swore they would make a bonfire out of it after exams were finished (I'm glad they didn't, since I'm against burning books). Maybe it was the hard language that made the book a tough cookie for us non-english speakers. But good luck with that:)