This book is a collection of essays written by John Clive that discusses the importance of reading and referring to classic historical texts in order to learn important stylistic techniques to compose well-written contemporary histories. Clive also stresses the need to read the biographies of historians to better understand the context of their works and the influence of their personal lives on their histories. Clive analyzes the works of many classic nineteenth-century historians including Thomas Babington Macaulay, Francis Parkman, Elie Halevy, Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Adams, Edward Gibbon and more to explain their influence on writing histories, as well what components make their works entertaining and tools for instruction.

Part I – Introduction

“The Use of the Past.”

Clive expresses his belief that the past is a very personal matter. To illustrate this idea, Clive outlines his own connection to history. As the son of middle-class German-Jewish parents in Berlin, Clive describes how he experienced moments of tyranny and persecution in early adolescence living in Germany at the time of the Nazis and Hitler’s ideology. He argues that one’s own personal history can influence an interest to learn and write about history. He explains that his historical focuses are on the Victorian age in England, and the life and works of nineteenth-century historian Thomas Babington Macaulay. He argues the Victorian age is regarded as a highly transitional time – industrial revolution, new technologies, new beliefs, new sciences and more. According to Clive, historians should be able to tell why certain ideas came to be believed about the past.

Part II – Why Read the Great Historians?

“Majestic Histories.”

Clive states that no one questions why we continue to reread texts like Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice, but wonders if this mindset applies to classic historical texts. He explains that history is cumulative, meaning most contemporary historians know more about the events and problems of the past than their predecessors. Yet, this leads us to wonder, why refer to older historians and their histories if they are out of date? Clive insists it is primarily about style. He argues reading Francis Parkman on the discovery of the Mississippi, or Macaulay on the siege of Londonderry, is “to encounter literary artistry of a kind not inferior to that of the great novelists.” He explains historians of the past aimed to give pleasure and amuse readers, and also to instruct. Clive stresses great historians deserve to be read because they show us a view of the world particular to a time.

“Transitions and Suspense: Some Practical Hints from the Great Historians.”

Clive makes the case for reading some of the great historians from a very pragmatic point of view. Clive explains how the method of “transition” in historical writing is an art unknown to students of history today, but is evident in writers of the past. According to Clive, the arrangement of “one thing after another” best sums up the arrangement of students’ essays and theses. He compares this to historian Thomas Babington Macaulay’s method of moving naturally from one topic to another. He provides an example of Macaulay’s method. When writing about the conditions of English society, Macaulay started off with discussing the difficulty of traveling in late seventeenth-century England. This naturally led him to the subject of the bad conditions of English roads. This natural transition led to the question, why were the roads in such horrible condition? Macaulay explains one reason was the defective state of the law, which began a much larger discussion on society in England. The transition relating to the conditions of the roads led Macaulay to the first of the “turnpike acts” and its results. Clive recommends reading Macaulay to those who wish to obtain some sense of mastery of the art of transition in historical writing. Clive also looks at French historian Elie Halevy, who created suspense and curiosity through the narrative structure. Halevy would give an advance summary of his conclusions. This essay suggests reading great historians, such as Macaulay and Halevy, to learn valuable lessons about writing history. Clive maintains if historians and students are to learn these lessons, they have to keep reading and rereading the great historians.

“The Most Disgusting of Pronouns.”

In this essay Clive explains that twentieth-century historians generally avoid using “I” in their writing, or what Edward Gibbon called “the most disgusting of the pronouns.” Most often historians use “we” or “the writer” or “the historian,” rather than referring to themselves in the first person singular. Clive argues historians do this because they believe there is objectivity through an impersonal mode of writing and that there should be distance between the writer and reader. Clive then discusses Elie Halevy’s History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century. He analyzes Halevy’s use of the word “I,” which inserts an autobiographical tone to the writing. Similarly, historian Edward Gibbon used “I” in his footnotes and text. Clive then explores Macaulay and Francis Parkman’s narrative style, as well as their use of the first person singular. Clive suggests encouraging students and historians to rethink using “I” in their writing because he believes history and biography are related. Clive argues the past, personal and historical, offers personal comfort, inspiration and a guide to action.

“Why Read the Great Nineteenth-Century Historians?”

In this essay Clive argues students and professional historians should read nineteenth-century historians because they wrote well, they reinterpreted aspects of the past in important ways, and they saw their role as an obligation to express what they thought about society and politics of the present, future and past. Clive then discusses the chasm between history as a science with facts and history as a literary endeavor. He analyzes parts of Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and de Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the Revolution to argue that while these works are important due to their historical content, it is their literary quality, tone and narrative style that entices readers and brings the historical facts to full force. He then discusses Thomas Babington Macaulay’s work to analyze what topics and literary techniques he utilized. Clive believes reading other great nineteenth-century historians is crucial because we can still feel the impact of the encounter between their personal interests and “scholarly curiosity,” which, as Clive asserts, lies at the heart of all great history.

“The Rise and Ascent of the Decline and Fall…”

In this essay Clive analyzes Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire from 1776. Clive argues it is, and always will be, a classic because the text was not just a compendium of facts and events, but a history of institutions, of current thoughts and feelings, societies and more.

Part III – Amusement and Instruction

“Gibbon’s Humor.”

Clive begins the essay by explaining how the editor of Edward Gibbon’s book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, disliked Gibbon’s use of witticisms. The editor saw them as futile since the idea was that historians should not put themselves into the histories. Yet, Clive outlines how Gibbon did this a lot with his texts on sex and Christianity. One of the aims for Gibbon was to capture the territory of early church history for secular historians. However for Gibbon, it was not enough to just write the facts; he also ridiculed and questioned the church. Clive argues part of the humour resides in the persona Gibbon presented to his readers in the disjunction between the skeptical man of the world and the mask of credulity and devotion. Clive maintains Gibbon’s narrative style is unique because not only is Gibbon present in the text, but the reader is also participating in the text as the historian’s good-humoured accomplice. Clive argues Gibbon’s irony can serve many purposes, such as being used as a weapon, or to distance himself from the subject matter. Clive then analyzes specific passages where Gibbon’s humour is found.

“Macaulay’s Historical Imagination.”

Clive begins the essay by stating the relationship between style and content (i.e. the subject chosen by the historian and his manner of expression) must be analyzed when reading a historical text. He explores Thomas Babington Macaulay’s book The History of England from the Accession of James the Second and explains how Macaulay wanted it to be amusing and instructive. Clive then discusses how Macaulay’s method was to focus on giving readers a vivid sense of place. Macaulay often traveled to the places he wrote about to get images and then described them in his narrative. Clive suggests the success of the book is because of the imaginative capacity of the text and how it contributed to a strongly developed sense of the pictorial form and the capacity to animate into forward motion in time motives, characters and situations – creating a sense of linkage. Clive calls this “propulsive imagination” – an ability to propel inert facts into motion. According to Clive, Macaulay propelled himself into imaginary situations. His writings are examples for other historians on how to make history dynamic, rather than static.

“Amusement and Instruction: Gibbon and Macaulay.”

In this essay, Clive analyzes the perspective Thomas Babington Macaulay had on Edward Gibbon’s work, in addition to different perspectives Macaulay and Gibbon had on similar subject matter. According to Clive, Macaulay thought Gibbon’s “indelicacy” was a major problem. Yet, Macaulay defended his own straying from decency and morality in his books by justifying it as the historian’s duty not to falsify the past by omitting the possibly offensive aspects that were part of that past. Clive maintains these two historians differed in their attitude to indecency. Whereas Gibbon exerted overtly tongue and cheek humour, Macaulay was more straightforward, yet engaging in his descriptive narrative. The essay then goes into short biographical accounts of each historian to analyze their similarities and differences. For example, Clive explains both historians remained unmarried as they both rejected marriage at an early age for similar reasons. He argues these kinds of experiences helped shape components of their narratives. Clive then goes through their views of history. Whereas Gibbon’s philosophy was to get at the principles first, i.e. to see things as a whole from above, then attempt to construct a science of human nature, Macaulay believed historians had gone too far to deduce general principles from facts resulting in distorted facts to suit general principles. Macaulay wanted the historian to be a poet of the age. To him, history was a branch of literature, so historians should learn from novelists. Lastly, Clive discusses Gibbon and Macaulay’s interest in teaching readers and amusing them. Clive explores how the fact that each historian was writing to a different audience shaped their writing styles.

“Carlyle’s Frederick the Great.”

Clive analyzes Thomas Carlyle’s text Frederick the Great from a nineteenth-century perspective, from when it was actually written, rather than a twentieth-century perspective. Clive asserts that we have to look at historical text in the context of its creation. For example, the culture and ideologies of the Victorian age prompted Carlyle’s interest with Frederick the Great. Also, Carlyle’s personal history influenced the writing of the text. Clive explains that Carlyle did not see himself as a historian, rather as a prophet who wanted to share his beliefs. Clive argues those beliefs are influenced by Carlyle’s own personal history and experiences. In addition, other elements such as the social dislocation in Carlyle’s own country showed him the need for wise leadership by the few. Thus, Carlyle’s own historical works became a search for exemplary heroic figures of the past. Clive explains Carlyle believed the real purpose of the government was to find the ablest man and have him invested with symbols of his ability – for Carlyle, history was about great men. Oliver Cromwell, for example, was one of the heroes Carlyle had celebrated in his lectures of hero worship. He defended him against many dissenters who defined Cromwell as a traitor and hypocrite. Clive then looks at how Carlyle used primary sources of the time to support his ideas. Clive also discusses Carlyle’s uniquely instructive method and modern approach to his narrative. Carlyle engaged readers by explaining how he got to his conclusions and how he created the histories. Clive maintains that readers are not passive but can participate in the narrative. Clive also discusses how Carlyle employed liberal use of dramatic dialogue in order to draw the reader into action. Clive argues Carlyle comes very close to being a historical novelist at times, not only in imagining thought and speech of characters, but also in imagining events that he is not certain took place.

“Carlyle and His Vocation – Thomas Carlyle: A Biography by Fred Kaplan.”

In this chapter, Clive goes over the long-term influence and significance of Fred Kaplan’s biography of historian Thomas Carlyle. Kaplan thoroughly describes how Carlyle’s place and country of birth, in addition to his parents’ Calvinism and sparse living from being farmers, shaped his life as he grew up with many struggles. Clive explains how Kaplan was sympathetic to his subject as a biographer, yet did not let his judgments influence any biases. Clive believes this biography allows us to understand Carlyle like no other text before it. Clive then goes into the historical significance of Carlyle’s writings – such as his work on the French Revolution and how although Carlyle intended it as a warning that revolutions break out in order to remove certain institutions, many people read it as a kind of epic poem. Clive then reviews the strengths and weaknesses of Kaplan’s biography.

“Michelet – by Roland Barthes, translated by Richard Howard.”

Clive begins the essay by stating that a late reading of Roland Barthes’ book about French historian Jules Michelet illustrates the new focus of scholars on modernity, as well as highlights the importance of Barthes’ book. Clive explains how Barthes informs readers that the main objective of his book is not to explain the influence of Michelet’s life on his works, but to restore an understanding to the historian. He attempts to show that Michelet’s life and work were dominated and bound together by myths, images and metaphors that had the aim of abolishing the distinction between the natural and historical worlds. Clive then outlines the main themes of Barthes’ book, such as power, water, children, bloodlines, and women.

“Chosen People – A Liberal Descent: Victorian Historians and the English Past by J.W. Burrow.”

Clive explains how a historiographical consensus had been worked out in regards to describing English history, which J.W. Burrow calls the “Whig compromise.” This new interpretation assumed that the English constitution was neither Saxon nor modern, but came out in the thirteenth century with the Magna Carta and the development of Parliament. Clive then discusses Edmund Burke, David Hume, Thomas Babbington Macaulay, and William Stubbs’ interpretations of English history and explains how their own personal and political interests influenced their perspectives in each of their historical texts.

“The Victorians from the Inside – Portrait of an Age: Victorian England by G.M. Young.”

In this essay, Clive explains how G.M. Young’s text Portrait of an Age: Victorian England appeared in the 1930s and has been regarded as a crucial historical text. In an earlier essay, “Victorian History,” Young sketched the outline of his own periodization of the age as he expressed the view that the authors of most Victorian histories lacked emphasis on the significance of the Victorian age. Clive explains the power of Young’s work is in the manner he was able to both identify the nature of the changes in Victorian England and write about them in a way that readers became a participant as well as an observer of the shifting society, ideas and institutions as history went on.

Part IV – Context and Comparison

“The Social Background of the Scottish Renaissance.”

Clive states that the dubious origin of the “Scottish Renaissance” is a historical problem that has resisted a definite solution. The differences in the interpretations must take into account not only all the social factors, but also the conditions of growth in the previous periods. Clive believes knowledge of the past helps make the present clear. Lastly, Clive outlines some of the different historical interpretations of the “Scottish Renaissance.”

“Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover.”

Clive takes four major historians – Macaulay (1800-1859), Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), Burckhardt (1818-1897), and Henry Adams (1838-1918) – and compares their works. Clive explains that even though these historians were writing around the same time, they all wrote on different themes. Clive states Macaulay’s The History of England from the Accession of James the Second celebrates the beneficial consequences of the Glorious Revolution of 1688; de Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the Revolution looks at how the men of 1789 made society worse with centralization, the isolation of social classes, and the erosion of public spirit; Burckhardt’s The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy depicts the creativity of individualism in all spheres of human activity and the violence and immorality that appeared in high culture; and Adam’s History of the United States under the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson shows how Jefferson’s agrarian democratic ideal was forced to give way to power politics, the pressures of war and the demands of competitive society. Clive explains that he groups these historians together because they all showed a great interest in politics and society of their time and each of them developed a certain outlook of the world. Clive then goes into short biographies of each author and how their lives influenced their work.

Part V – English Cliographers

“English Cliographers.”

Clive discusses why reading biographies on historians is helpful to gaining a better understanding of the historian and history. Clive argues reading biographies helps us answer questions about why a particular historian chose to write a history on a theme or period in the first place, as well as what influenced the historian. For example, Clive maintains that native talents and childhood influences can reveal clues and explanations about a historian’s works. In addition to reading about a historian’s childhood and family influences, intellectual and social environment, teachers and guides, practical experience in the world, etc., readers want to learn about how the historian actually writes his or her history. According to Clive, biographies also answer questions about why historians write and how they use language and style to shape their texts. Clive provides some examples to support his point.

“Peter and the Wallah: From Kinsfolk to Competition.”

In this essay, Clive explores how John Gibson Lockhart’s Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk (1819) and George Otto Trevelyan’s Competition Wallah (1863) (both series of fictitious letters) maintain the playful use of the epistolary genre, but also express serious concerns and polemical intentions. Clive explains that Lockhart received his education at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford initially to pursue a legal career, but he later turned to literature. Trevelyan also had a distinguished academic career. He travelled to India in 1862, when there was still a lot of unrest between India and England. There was tension between English settlers and English civil servants (civilians). “Competition wallahs,” in Anglo-Indian usage, were those among the higher ranks of the Indian Civil Service who had received their posts since 1853, when, as Clive explains, Parliament abolished patronage and had opened all appointments to competition. All this influenced Trevelyan’s text Competition Wallah. “Henry Broughton” was the author of the letters in Competition Wallah. Broughton was one of the civilians selected under the system that resulted from the act of 1853. The letters describe his life in British India as seen through the eyes of a young civilian, a formed university man, who had just arrived after getting his degree. Clive explains that the narrative framework of the book critically examines the Indian Civil Service. Clive argues Trevelyan’s purpose in writing Competition Wallah was to make Englishmen at home aware of the harshness and contempt held by so many European settlers in India and how they treated the native population. In comparison, in Lockhart’s letters in Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk, the author is concerned with the prominent literati, lawyers, professors and judges of Edinburgh, whose activities illustrate the intellectual and spiritual state of the city. Clive argues on one level these letters can be read as a “cultural gazetteer” of direct observation and overhearing of leading civic and literary personages. Letters also target Scottish Whiggery, the Tories and their political power, and how the Whigs were still lords of public opinion.

“Macaulay, History and the Historians.”

Clive argues Thomas Babington Macaulay is a symbol of the misinterpretation of history that sees the past not in its own terms but as preparation for the present. Also under debate is the extent to which Macaulay was a “Whig historian.” Clive explains how Macaulay is often unfairly dismissed as arrogant and insensitive. Clive argues contemporary historians and readers have to understand the context of Macaulay’s life in order to justly evaluate him. Clive then describes Macaulay’s academic and personal life. One of the main points Clive makes about Macaulay is the interaction between Macaulay’s personality and his historical imagination. Clive maintains Macaulay made impeccable observation of men and manners, had an irresistible disposition to glee and empathy, and wrote engaging narratives.

“More of Less Eminent Victorians.”

Eminent Victorians contains the biographies of Florence Nightingale, General Gordon, Cardinal Manning and Dr. Arnold. Clive discusses how author Lytton Strachey raised concerns of character and circumstance, reason and unreason and the individual in relation to the spirit of his age, and ideas in relation to action. The biographies also recognized achievements and explored a curiosity in the motives and impulses that moved humans. Eminent Victorians established itself as a biographical classic, however, it still faced a lot of criticism because Strachey occasionally distorted historical evidence. Clive looks at different biographers’ interpretations of prominent Victorian figures and authors in order to see the growing trend in not only historical biographies, but how trends, such as a growing interest in administration and figures of interest sparked an interest in historical biographies.

Part VI – Life in Letters and Memories

“The Education of Alexis de Tocqueville: The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville, edited by J.P. Mayer.”

Clive describes how J.P. Mayer analyzes the deeper meaning of the events of the French Republic through which de Tocqueville lived in his book, Recollections. Clive then explains how Mayer felt free to emphasize the importance of socialist currents in the revolution and envisaged the possibility of their eventual success. In addition, Clive explains how Mayer devoted a great deal of effort to predicting what would happen in society through his historical texts. Clive goes over a few parts of Recollections, such as how de Tocqueville’s personal and professional life influenced his text. In addition, Clive explains how Recollections records a period of revolution through melancholy and bitter humour, yet makes incisive and enlightening observations.

“A Nephew’s Tribute: The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay by Sir George Otto Trevelyan.”

In this essay, Clive argues that the special edition of The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay by Sir George Otto Trevelyan provides an opportunity to pay tribute to one of the classic Victorian biographies, first published in 1876. Clive then explains that the two qualities that have had critics claim this biography as one of the masterpieces of the art are its “readableness” and its clear, truthful picture of Macaulay’s character and personality. After briefly touching on some of Macaulay’s milestones, Clive asserts that it is important to know the human being behind the work. The glimpses into their personal lives remind us that behind history stands the historian and in order to really appreciate the works of a historian, we have to understand where he or she is coming from.

“An Odd Couple: Love in a Cool Climate: The Letters of Mark Pattison and Meta Bradley, 1879-1884, edited by Vivian Green.”

Clive outlines how the letters in Love in a Cool Climate: The Letters of Mark Pattison and Meta Bradley, 1879-1884 provide a record of the romantic friendship between Mark Pattison, an older, Oxford scholar and academic reformer, and a woman, forty years younger than he. Clive explains that while it is helpful to read about the Victorian period, it is quite another experience to read correspondence from the period that actually reinforces the Victorian themes of fading beliefs. Thus, this book edited by Vivian Green gives readers a unique glimpse into the culture of England at that time.

“Laura, A Stonemason’s Daughter: Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson.”

Clive asserts that while new historical methods, such as the use of statistics and oral histories, assist in writing well researched histories, he maintains that there are classics which should be referred to. One of them is Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford, which records her reminiscences of Oxfordshire country life published in three separate volumes between 1939 and 1943. In the book, Thompson appears as Laura, a stonemason’s daughter who at fourteen leaves the hamlet of Lark Rise of Candleford Green. The world of rural Oxfordshire is observed through Laura’s eyes and she is always referred to in the third person. This literary device allowed Thompson to keep her distance and to produce a work that is much more than an autobiography, a reconstruction of an entire locality and its way of life. Clive argues the result is a text that provides a perspective of history and politics, popular language, culture, new terms, nicknames, labels, and ways of life. Clive then goes through the text in more detail to discuss certain topics such as linguistics and local life.

Part VII – Where Are We Heading?

“Trevelyan: The Muse or the Museum?”

In this essay Clive describes George Macaulay Trevelyan, the distinguished British historian who died in 1962 (Thomas Babington Macaulay was his great-uncle and his father was George Otto Trevelyan). Clive discusses how at this time there was a shift in writing history as there was a growing prestige in physical sciences, the pervasive influence of the German seminar method, and the need to make history respectable as an academic subject, which all put a “premium” on history that was “true” because it was based on laws of evidence. The result was history written for scholars by scholars. Clive emphasizes how Trevelyan, in his essay “Clio: A Muse,” maintained that history was more than the accumulation and interpretation of facts. In the last part of the essay, Clive outlines some of Trevelyan’s themes in the text and states Trevelyan is regarded as a very readable historian.

“The Prying Yorkshireman: Herbert Butterfield and the Historian’s Task.”

In this essay Clive discusses Herbert Butterfield, one of the outstanding English historians, writers and academics of his generation, and his texts. Clive outlines how Butterfield contributed to historiography and explains Butterfield’s technique of describing the technical ways in which historians went through the exercise of writing and the assumptions underlying their treatment of both past and present. Butterfield’s best known texts are The Whig Interpretation of History and Christianity and History. These texts ask why some men, but not others, began to keep records, to contemplate certain events, to see continuities between the past, present and future. Clive then provides a brief outline of the history of Christianity and early English history.

“The Great Historians in the Age of Cliometrics.”

In this last essay Clive states not all history is entertaining, or enjoyable. However, Clive does maintain that there are historians who tried to be amusing in their writings and they are worth reading. Clive also believes we can learn a lot stylistically from older texts.