An ideal accessory in any history course that requires writing, A Short Guide to Writing About History stresses thinking and writing like a historian. This engaging and practical little text helps the readers get beyond merely compiling dates and facts; it teaches them how to incorporate their own ideas into their papers and to tell a story about history that interests them and their peers. Covering both brief essays and the documented resource paper, this book explores the writing and researching processes, different modes of historical writing including argument and concludes with guidelines for improving style. For any one who will need to write about history.

Compact and inspirational, the author makes his points by way of examples and citations from historians. Passionate about his subject area, he communicates this well and infuses it into his observations and recommendations for writing about historical topics.

While the jury is still out on my first paper to utilize this resource, I already know I am a better writer of history for having utilized this fine resource. Just the idea of grabbing your reader and making him want to read the rest was useful.