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Historical Reconstruction

I think truth is something which is exactly how it was especially when it relates to

history. Thus, for something to be termed as true, then it must present the original context of the

occurrence of events no matter the setting. Therefore, historians are to get the truth about

historical events that took place many years ago, then I think it is not possible. Whatever sources

of information being used by historians as they reconstruct history right now are based on

information from the perspective and interpretation of previous researchers on that particular

topic. Therefore, truth means it’s the exact manner how it happened with authenticity.

Some of the major problems with the reconstruction of history faced by historians

revolve around the source, knowledge, objectivity. The source is a critical challenge in historical

reconstruction. The method and manner at which sources are collected and used to determine the

quality of the study. Sources are one of the basic research in historical reconstruction where they

are very many of them. The method of recovery, examining, and preservation of the essential

parts of historical reconstruction. Recovery, examination, and preservation of these sources is a

critical factor since they provide the basis of their interpretation and assessment for the purpose

of achieving the objective of the historical reconstruction study. Therefore, understanding of

these sources is important. Historians face to the problem of lacking direct access to the past

since events come and go with time. Whatever is left are pieces of information that form the
basis of primary, secondary and tertiary sources. The problem increases of sources of this

information are from illiterate people.

Secondly, historians face the problem of historical knowledge when it comes to historical

reconstruction. Basically, the problem is epistemological which deals with the nature and scope

of knowledge. Thus, historians face the challenge of dealing with the study in relation to the

challenges of historical knowledge. These problems arise from sources, selection, memory, and

eyewitnesses including books. Thus, it becomes difficult for historians to obtain knowledge

relating to events that took place in the deep past especially when there is no direct access to the

past.

Another challenge faced by historians is the topic of research. The world is a complex

society and thus, current problems are solved by past events. Historians are faced with many

endless questions and this leads to the challenge of choice of a suitable topic. The historian does

not want to pursue challenges that are not of any importance to society. Thus, their investigation

forms the basis of revealing the origins of some things existing currently, however, some of this

information does not have any historical significance. Thus, the challenge is choosing an

important topic out of the available ones. Their personal values, stakeholders of the study and the

aging nature of the historian determine their choice of study. As the authors write, “The lure of

topics both broad and significant is undeniable, and there have always been historians willing to

pull on their seven-league boots.” (52). Thus, how all these influencing factors operate is

complex and most of the time, historians are not aware of them.

With close relation to historical knowledge, historians also face the problem of historical

explanation. As argued by many historical writers, history revolves around the description of

past events, thus, historians have to look for general laws that govern those particular events.
Additionally, and historians’ responsibility is to explain historical events and situations. As noted

in the reading, “At heart, history as a discipline studies change over time. Historians routinely

seek to explain why change occurs where and when it does and why it occurs in the particular

way it does.” (371). Thus, forming the basis of why historians conduct historical reconstruction

to explain what happened in the past. General laws form the basis of social science

characteristics opposite to natural science. Thus, historical reconstruction aims at describing

exactly what took place in the past. Thus, because things in society are governed by laws, and

historical events are unique, historians are not able to explain the historical event using the laws.

Historians also face the problem of access where they are limited in terms of epistemic

access which results in many problems relating to information. These problems occur when there

is a failure of competing hypotheses by use of the available data to adjudicate a theory based on a

set criterion. “Because historians study an event or period in its entirety, historical narrative

usually incorporates many theories rather than just one.” (125). Thus, it means that historians

connect various to be able to reconstruct past events as they write history. Problems of access are

pervasive and persistent for a study that aims at reconstruction of historical event. As opposed to

science, historical reconstruction lacks vital epistemic resources to other lines of inquiry. Thus,

during studies dealing with historical reconstruction, historians lack the capacity to arbitrate

experimentally for the purpose of hypothesized causal relationships testing among past historical

events. Additionally, historians do not have the ability to observe or reproduce repetitions of

majority of historical events for the purpose of conducting reconstruction of history.

Additionally, disturbance by heterogeneous causal process is another problem faced by historians

that occurs over a long time which destroys sources of information which are vital residuals

traces of historical reconstruction. “Turner's broad assertion-a manifesto, really-challenged on

several counts the prevailing historical wisdom. Scholars of Turner's day had approached their

subject with an Atlantic Coast bias.” (127). Therefore, the problem of access makes historical

researches conduct historical reconstruction without replicable sources of data that are protected

from destruction or bias.

Knowing the truth about the historical past may not be possible. Historical reconstruction

involves trying to get the truth about certain events and what happened. Thus, historians make an

effort of recreating the past through evidence gathering by use of various theories methodologies

that are usually tainted and scanty. Truth can be defined as the state of being real from the case in

reality. Thus, this simple definition makes it difficult to realize historical truth because once

events have occurred, they are gone and not in any chance will anyone know exactly what took

place. For instance, the author uses The Declaration of Independence where he writes “…is one

of the most celebrated documents in the nation’s history”. (75). The truth of the historical events

goes with the moment and evidence left behind by the even is reported by an eye-witness or

written in documents. However, all these sources of historical information are presented on one

perspective which is always not complete. The author writes that “On the one hand is the

argument that, in fact, the media have very little effect on the real world, since they merely

reflect tastes and opinions that mass audiences already hold.” (350), thus showing that whatever

is being told presently is all about the perspectives of those who responded and documented to

the events being studied. Historical events involve human actions that are left behind after events

have taken place that has been left behind in writing. Thus written documents have existed

through times but tainted since they are written in the perspectives of the writers. Additionally,

reading of the document and interpreting by other Individuals taint the information further by
preconceived notions and prejudice of the reader. Thus, it is not possible to claim that a historical

event took place and also the cause of the even.

In relation to the extent to which historians can reconstruct the motives and experiences

of the past, it will depend on the historical validity. By this, it means that as much as the past

does not change, the knowledge about the past changes. This is based on how historians interpret

the available text documents by using tools and methods developed by professional historians.

As the author writes, “To determine a document's historical significance requires placing it

within the larger context of events”. (80). Based on the extent of studies and analysis done by

historians on historical validity and knowledge of historical past, they are subject to change.

Thus, historians can only go the extent of historical validity. As historians conduct studies for

historical reconstruction, the truth they get from their sources is only based on understanding

from other researchers or respondents’ perspective which is not the absolute truth. Therefore, the

perspective shapes the truth of the information. The person who captured the information in any

form of documentation forms their own perspective and also of the person who interprets it. This

also forms the perspectives of the editors and translators of the information and the primary

sources. Hence, it means that the past of moments of the invisible observers is not gotten by

historians and nobody will know what really was on their minds. The best approache anyone

interested in historical truth can take is to be vigilant and keep checking biases in historical data.

Therefore, history only teaches on moments it makes efforts to provide descriptions since

historians only choose the specifics topics they want to work on provide only in relation to that

topic and nothing more than that.

These issues relate to the writing of Sacks in many ways in “After the Fact” since the txt

explores various methods a historian can use to interpret and reconstruct historical events. Each
chapter in the book touches on historical detection techniques that historians can apply to

reconstruct historical events. The historical investigation provides by the author revolves around

American history and their interpretation. The author shows how to look at contemporary

evidence using the Virginia Colonies in the 17th Century. Declaration of Independence document

is used by the author as a method of interpreting historical events. The author also uses the case

of Andrew Jackson to illustrate how theories can be used for the purpose of interpretation of

historical events.
 Works Cited

Davidson, James West, Mark H. Lytle, and James W. Davidson. After the fact: The art of

historical detection. New York: Knopf, 1982.dw