Book Review of Being a Historian: An Introduction to the Professional World of History

Ross J. BosseGeorge Mason University

HIST 610September 03, 2014

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When students start down a career path, towards say being a lawyer or a doctor, there are

distinct expectations, explicit learning of skills, and practicum that are given elements in their

education. That might not be the case for nascent historians. James Banner’s Being a Historian:

An Introduction to the Professional World of History tells an advisory tale of a discipline that

often ignores its own history and neglects to fully develop its greenhorns, who are often left to

learn their craft on their own. While Banner expresses many things that have gone wrong, or

been neglected, as the discipline of history has developed, he also speaks of a discipline that has

a lot of promise and opportunities for up and coming historians.

Historians share the same discipline, but not necessarily the same professions. Banner’s

account of the discipline begins with historical work practiced by civic groups such as historical

societies and with the development of academic history. He then winds through the evolution

and maturation of public history.1 Central to Banner’s thesis regarding the trajectory of the

discipline is the idea that when faced with opportunities to be more of a force in the public

sphere, the discipline has slipped back into the walls of academia. This was especially true after

historians had done a significant amount of government and other public history work during the

1940s, only to retreat once their public efforts were complete.2 Public history grew throughout

the 20th Century with the increasing availability in government jobs, private industry, and

cultural institutions. Banner credits public history with innovative developments in the discipline

including oral history and public history. Public history “works to deepen the public’s living

consciousness of its past in ways that members of the public request, not because of the current

trajectories of historiography.”3

1 James M. Banner, Being a Historian : An Introduction to the Professional World of History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012).2 Banner, 29.3 Ibid., 144.

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The relationship between academic history and secondary education is flawed. Banner

recognizes that, “Classroom instruction may be the only time in their lives that students have the

chance to become alert to the fundamentally problematic and contingent nature of all historical

knowledge.”4 Ultimately though, secondary teachers are “lacking in deep knowledge of their

subjects.”5 Academic historians must endure the burden “to resuscitate a love of historical

knowledge that has been often seriously injured if not killed in school.”6 The universities do not

shirk blame here as they often fail to develop historians’ teaching and writing skills. However,

Banner notes that history students do a fine job plodding through the process and learning the

necessary skills, regardless of how well the academy prepares them for professional life.7

Long past due, Banner’s work here on the remarkable issues the discipline should address

is the retrospect that should be in the forethought of history students. Furthermore, the

responsibility of academic historians to bolster secondary educational experiences for teachers

and students should take top priority. Great significance must be placed on positive learning

experiences. It all but guarantees better quality post secondary students and consumers of

historical knowledge. This book is important, because it highlights the promise of the discipline,

whether one finds oneself in academia or working in public history.

4 Ibid., 109.5 Ibid., 109.6 Ibid., 109.7 Ibid., 178.

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Bibliography

Banner, James M. Being a Historian : An Introduction to the Professional World of History.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.