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| History is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human society. Political, social, economic, scientific, technological, medical, cultural, intellectual, religious and military developments are all part of history. Usually professional historians specialize in a particular aspect of history, a specific time period, a certain approach to history or a specific geographic region. Non-historians often say that “history repeats itself” or that “things were always this way.” History cannot repeat itself because history is not a living, thinking being. History is an intellectual discipline practiced by historians who try to make sense of the past. Because history is about change, nothing was ever “always” a certain way. Non-historians often romanticize the past and speak of the “good old days” when they believe that things were generally better than at present. Conversely, some see history exclusively as a story of progress with everything constantly improving. People of all eras have made great achievements and committed terrible blunders; so processes of historical change cannot be categorized as either simple progress or regression. Historical processes involve complex relations between interrelated factors. Non-historians derive information mainly from television, movies, and the internet as well as some books or magazines. They generally accept any sources uncritically as long as the source is interesting. Historians know that all sources, even those original to a particular historical time period, have some biases, omissions, contradictions, or various other limitations. That does not mean that such sources are completely invalid and useless; rather it means that historians have to know and study much to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of different sources. |