What you’ll learn to do: examine and evaluate historical arguments

An essential part of any historian’s toolbox is the ability to objectively assess historical arguments and their supporting evidence. Since our understanding of history is based on the perspectives of those who lived it, we often come across two perspectives that challenge one another or make completely opposing claims. Part of examining historical arguments is looking at the people who wrote them and analyzing their perspectives, but another key component is analyzing the arguments themselves and comparing them against other evidence or perspectives. This historical hack will walk you through two arguments concerning machine politics in the late nineteenth century, and will teach you how to understand, explain, and assess the strength of those arguments.