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Popkin defines historiography “as the critical assessment of the ways in which historians try to reconstruct past events as distinguished from the statements they make about the past” (pg. 3). It is a very complex and complicated field of study that is not easy to understand at first. Popkin argues that this complexity comes from the fact that history is not simple because “history refers both to events that took place in the past and to the accounts we give them” (Popkin, pg. 4). Due to the fact that there can be multiple works of writing dealing with the same time period or event that contain different material, we need a way to help understand why there are differences in them. This is where historiography comes into play. Historiography helps to understand the different ways hisotrians interpreted the past to try to understand or gain a knowledge of a universal truth about the past. (Popkin, pg. 4).
I share the same feeling of historiography giving me a weird taste of history as Joseph Ngo does. I love history for the great tales of the past. I enjoy the history books that Popkin says are “written for a popular audience” these books focus on “spectacular events and big personalities” (Popkin pg. 5). So it is a little frustrating being presented with this field of history. However, studying historiography gives people a better understanding of history itself, and allows people to become better historians themselves, therefore, is important.
Historiography forces “historians to look at the past from new angles” by viewing these new angles, this creates conflict between historians, however, Popkin argues that these “disagreements help keep the discipline alive” (pg. 8).
Although this concept seems a little awkward, it is very important because it allows historians to gain a better understanding of history, and helps continue to encourage historical research and debate, helping to maintain the discipline as a whole.