Earlier this month, my wife and I visited the beguiling bookstore in Lenox,
Mass. Two things make it special, and both reflect the knowledge and care of the people who run it. One is the
terrific selection – the shelves are full of surprises, including a big poetry
section. The second is
that a few bookcases are devoted to used books – not the usual suspects but
books you seldom see.
Barbara W. Tuckman |
Tuchman, who died in 1989 at the age of 77, was a popular
historian – a loaded term because academics sometimes use it as a putdown. I
think there is some envy in this. Popular historians are often those who write well.
They are storytellers. This does not mean, and certainly didn't mean in Tuchman's case, they are not dogged researchers as well.
I found Practicing
History just as unputdownable as Tuchman’s history books. It is just what its
title promises: an author’s thoughts about her craft. Some of the essays, which
date back 50 years, were speeches or reviews in periodicals. Most share anecdotes about the research and writing that went into her books.
As I contemplate which book to write next (I’m 60 percent
decided), it was wonderful to explore Tuchman’s philosophy about history and
writing. Often she expressed herself in eloquent aphorisms, and I thought I
would share some of these nuggets of wisdom with you today.
“Being in love with your subject . . . is indispensable for writing good history – or good anything, for that matter.”
“One learns to write . . . in the practice thereof. . . . An
essential element for good writing is a good ear. One must listen to the sound
of one’s own prose. . . . Short words are always preferable to long ones; the
fewer syllables, the better, and monosyllables, beautiful and pure like ‘bread’
and ‘sun’ and ‘grass,’ are best of all.”
“The historian is continually being beguiled down
fascinating byways and sidetracks. But the art of writing – the test of an
artist – is to resist the beguilement and cleave to the subject.”
“When I was eighteen
or thereabouts, my mother told me that when out with a young man I should
always leave a half-hour before I wanted to. Although I was not sure how this
was to be accomplished, I recognized the advice as sound, and exactly the same
rule applies to research.”
Tuchman won a Pulitzer prize for her World I history "The Guns of August." |
“If the historian will submit himself to his material instead of trying to impose himself on his material, the material will
ultimately speak to him and supply the answers.”
“As . . . the explanation conveys itself to the writer, so
will the implications or the meaning for our time arise in the mind of the
reader. But such lessons, if present and valid, must emerge from the material,
not the writer. I did not write to instruct, but to tell a story.”
“Evidence is more important
than interpretation . . . I am content to define history as the past events of
which we have knowledge and refrain from worrying about those of which we have
none – until, that is, some archaeologist digs them up.”
“The contemporary has no perspective; everything is in the
foreground and appears the same size. Little matters loom big, and great
matters are sometimes missed because their outlines cannot be seen. Vietnam and
Panama are given four-column headlines today, but the historian fifty or a
hundred years hence will put them in a chapter under a general heading we have
not yet thought of.” [This was written in 1964, but Tuchman’s view then of Vietnam
and Panama as equivalents in the arc of history only emphasizes the point she is
making.]
“There is no such thing as a neutral or purely objective
historian. Without an opinion a historian would simply be a ticking clock, and
unreadable besides.”
“The historian’s task is . . . to tell what happened within
the discipline of the facts. ”
“It is wiser, I believe, to arrive at theory by way of the
evidence than the other way around, like so many revisionists today. It is more
rewarding, in any case, to assemble the facts first and, in the process of
arranging them in narrative form, to discover a theory or a historical
generalization emerging of its own accord. This, to me, is the excitement, the built-in
treasure hunt, of history.”
Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror" is set in northern France in the 14th century. |
“When I come across a generalization or a general statement
in history unsupported by illustration, I am instantly on guard; my reaction
is, ‘Show me.’ ”
“Words are seductive and dangerous material, to be used with
caution. Am I a writer first or am I a historian? The old argument starts inside
my head. Yet there need not always be dichotomy or dispute. The two functions
need not be, in fact should not be, at war. The goal is fusion. In the long run
the best writer is the best historian.”
“Why is it generally assumed that in writing, the creative
process is the exclusive property of poets and novelists? I would like to
suggest that the thought applied by the historian to his subject matter can be
no less creative than the imagination applied by the novelist to his.”
“I have always felt like an artist when I work on a book but
I did not think I ought to say so until someone else said it first.”
“When I say that I felt like an artist, I mean that I
constantly found myself perceiving historical truth (at least what I believe to be truth) by seizing upon a
suggestion; then, after careful gathering of the evidence, conveying it in turn
to the reader, not by piling up a list of the facts I have collected, which is
the way of the Ph.D., but by exercising the artist’s privilege of selection.”
“When it comes to language, nothing is more satisfying than
to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the
reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one
can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not
just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.”
Thought provoking quotes! Practicing History sounds like a work that is inspiring and informative at the same time; I look forward to reading it. The Guns of August, Proud Tower, and Distant Mirror were seminal works in my journey as a historian as well and I still remember the thrill of reading Guns of August through the first time - couldn't put it down. Thanks for reminding us of Tuchman and others like her who challenge us to always be improving ourselves and our work.
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