Author Description

What determines the historian's decision to study a particular aspect of the past? Are certain topics inherently more 'significant' or more 'relevant' at certain times than others? In this publication of his inaugural lecture Prof Spies comments on the role of the historian: the historian's task is to explain - without distorting the past - why his theme is significant. He should study history both generally and in detail on a narrower front. His focus should be 'amphibious', Spies says (quoting H R Trevor-Roper), living some part of his time below the surface and part above the surface: 'The historian who has specialised all his life may end as an antiquarian. The historian who has never specialized will end as a blower of froth.'