Despite the fact that ‘distance’ has been debated in many other disciplines, it has remained in the background of the practice of history rather than in theory or research. The author uses the genre of historical writing to undertake the understanding of this often-overlooked dimension of historical thought. Looking closely at distance in history allows for a deeper understanding of the balances and tensions of historical representations. The author uses distance and history to understand historical text and to show new ways of viewing historical reasons and changes over time. He also wishes to dissect the absence of a explicit discussion of historical distance by historians through two personal examples of his exchanges with historical distance. Historical distance can be discussed in the ideological, affective, cognitive, and formal aspects of history. It is also important to understand the connection between history and memory and how historical distance is constructed. He concludes with some categories of distance and their differences.