Writing History

For many historians the writing of biography is not a desirable or even a legitimate pursuit. They believe that focusing on a single individual obscures the broader picture, which consists of long-term developments and fundamental shifts in the balance of forces in society. The origins of the English Civil War will not be revealed, they would argue, by Concentrating on the life of Charles I or John Pym, any more than a biography of Henry VIII will fully explain that complex phenomenon known as the English Reformation. Moreover, they will add, biographers are inclined to be too obsessed by their subjects and too indulgent towards them: they over-estimate their importance, they gloss over their character defects, and they excuse their errors of judgment. Worst sin of all, they make the individual dominate the scene in which he or she is in fact only one - and often not the most important of many elements.