1894 quotes by historians for you to enjoy

In the academic world, biographies of these great figures of the past fell out of favor in the 1960s, when there was a turn toward social history, which meant the history of the voiceless and faceless. But the public at large never embraced the idea that these dead white guys should be abandoned. H. W. Brands

Great History World Past White Favor Abandoned Out Embraced Faceless Guys Voiceless Never Idea Toward Academic Fell Dead The History Of Which Public Social Turn Should Meant Figures Large Biographies

When you're actually president, the spin matters a lot less. H. W. Brands

You Matters President Spin Lot Less Actually

Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do. H. W. Brands

Own Congress Pen Presidents Stroke Did Persuade

America can change its presidents, but the world doesn't change. H. W. Brands

Change World Presidents America

I had this grand plan for writing the history of the United States in six volumes. This was in the mid-1990s; I was fairly young and very ambitious. I pitched it to a publisher, who just laughed at me. H. W. Brands

People are interested in people. They buy biographies; they don't buy studies of presidencies. H. W. Brands

Buy People Studies Interested Biographies

Every year, I have my graduate students read the great works of history, from classical times to the present. They gamely tackle Tacitus, ponder Plutarch, plow through Gibbon. Then they get to Thomas Carlyle and feel like Dorothy when she touched down in Technicolor Oz. H. W. Brands

Great History Year Down Every Thomas Plow Classical Tackle Touched Through Students Feel Like She Read Times Get Graduate Graduate Students Oz Dorothy Ponder Then Works Present

With my first few books, I was aiming at an academic audience, basically, to get tenure. You can presuppose a certain amount of knowledge; you can expect that there is this common background. H. W. Brands

Knowledge You First Few Aiming Books Background Tenure Academic Audience Expect Get Common Certain Amount Basically

When you tell a story, there are imperatives of structure, of style, of pacing and all of this, that are there simply because you want to make it a good story. When do you introduce your characters? When do you put them onstage, when do you take them off the stage? How do you weave the different threads of the narrative together? H. W. Brands

Good You Together Style Stage Tell Characters Introduce Threads Weave Structure Imperative Good Story Onstage Take Put Simply Make Because Narrative How Off Different Want Story Pacing Them Your

Reagan gave essentially the same speech from the beginning to the end of his political career, which was always, 'The American people are great, the government always screws things up, let's get the government out of the way.' On the foreign policy side it was, 'Communism is bad, and we're going to defeat it.' H. W. Brands

Government Great Communism People Political Beginning Defeat Gave Side Way Out Bad Policy Always Foreign Reagan Political Career Foreign Policy His End Up Get American Same Going Essentially Which American People Things Career Speech

I've been writing American history for a long time, and I've had a hard time finding strong, interesting female characters. There are women, of course, in American history, but they're hard to write about because they don't leave much of a historical trace, and they're not usually involved in high-profile public events. H. W. Brands

Time History Women Writing Events Strong Long Long Time Characters Finding About High-Profile Write Had Involved Trace Course Because Female Female Characters Leave Been Historical American American History Interesting Public Much Hard Hard Time

Some years ago, I read Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution, and I was very taken by the way he told the story, and it seemed as though I was right in the middle of things. And it took me a while to figure out how he achieved that effect, and one of the ways was to write it in the present tense. H. W. Brands

Me History Revolution Thomas Took Way Ways Though Out Some Seemed Write He Taken Tense French Read French Revolution How Years Years Ago Effect Very Achieved Middle Story While Figure Right Things Present Present Tense

I've been writing big stories of history, but there are a lot of fascinating little stories. H. W. Brands

History Writing Big Been Lot Stories Little Fascinating

Americans have a profound longing for heroes - now perhaps more than ever. We need our explorers, our sports icons, our Medal of Freedom winners, our Nobel laureates. We need our Greatest Generation warriors, our 'Sully' Sullenbergers, our Neil Armstrongs. On some level, we still subscribe to the myth of the man in the white hat. Hampton Sides

Freedom Man Sports Generation Heroes Myth Longing Subscribe White Our Neil Hat Laureate Some More Winners Nobel Perhaps Greatest Still Greatest Generation Than American Icons Explorers Warriors Medal Now Ever Level Profound Need

Probably the biggest influence on my career was the late John Hersey, who, while he was at 'The New Yorker,' wrote one of the masterpieces of narrative non-fiction, 'Hiroshima.' Hersey was a teacher of mine at Yale, and a friend. He got me to see the possibility of journalism not just as a business but as an art form. Hampton Sides

Teacher Art Me Business Late Mine Possibility John See He Journalism New Wrote Non-Fiction Masterpieces Yale Narrative Got Hiroshima Art Form Friend Yorker Just Influence Form New Yorker Biggest While Biggest Influence Who Career

I love Memphis, I guess you could say, in the way that you love a brother even if he does sometimes puzzle and sadden and frustrate you. Say what you want about it, it's an authentic place. I was born and raised in Memphis, and no matter where I go, Memphis belongs to me, and I to it. Hampton Sides

Love Me You Sometimes Matter Guess Way Say Brother Memphis Born About Could He Puzzle Does Go Authentic Where Want Place Frustrate Even Belongs Raised

Sometimes it takes a brush with eternity - a crash, an illness, some shock to the system - to get you really thinking about what you want to do with your limited time here, and why you're living on this wobbling dirt clod in the first place. Hampton Sides

Time You Sometimes First Living Thinking System Some About Brush Dirt Takes First Place Limited Limited Time Shock Get Want Crash Place Eternity Really Your Illness Why Here

When the Americans were trying to conquer the Navajos, they felt this need to capture Canyon de Chelly like it was the Navajo capital. It was a meeting place and a sanctuary of last refuge. To control Canyon de Chelly was to control the Navajo people. Hampton Sides

People Control Meeting Like Felt Were Trying American Refuge Place Canyon Sanctuary Capital Capture Conquer Last Need

I'm not a Man U fan at all, but I can't get enough of Rooney. What a joy to watch! Hampton Sides

Man Joy Enough Get Fan Watch

I majored in Southern history in college, and much of my early work at my first job - as a staff writer at 'Memphis' magazine - focused on race relations. Hampton Sides

Work History Job College First Early Work Relations Focused Magazine Memphis Writer First Job Southern Staff Race Race Relations Much Early

I find there's a thin, permeable membrane between journalism and history, and though some academic historians take a dim view of it, I gather a lot of strength and professional inspiration from passing back and forth across it. Hampton Sides

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I follow the sport. I played in high school, a little bit in college, played on various club teams most of my life, and all three of my sons are competitive soccer players and far better than I ever was. Hampton Sides

Life Better School College Three My Life Club Bit High Follow High School Various Sons Most Sport Huge Than Fan Little Soccer Little Bit Far Teams Ever Played Players Competitive

The thing about Memphis is that it's pleasingly off-kilter. It's a great big whack job of a city. The anti-Atlanta. You go there, and you can't believe the things people will say, the way they think, the wobbling orbits of their lives. There's an essential otherness. Hampton Sides

Great You People Will Job Big Believe Think Way Say City Memphis About Go Whack Essential Lives Thing Things

Quotes by Historians