Writers Notebook 70

The things that interest me the most about reading for my favorite classes is the discovery of new historical information and the multiple interpretations of the same cause and effect relationships that exist among historical events. Historical archives and private writings are continuously surfacing. Historians use these documents to create new arguments and new interpretations in their discourse community. Sometimes these arguments are supported by new evidence or new interpretations of the same historical subject.
I rarely use the internet for historical reading. Very few websites are credible enough to read for accurate information. My internet reading is reserved for sports, news, or entertainment value. On the other hand, I do use journal articles found on-line or in the library for historical reading and research purposes. The older journal articles, or primary sources, give me a feel for how the topic was being viewed in the timeframe that it occurred. This allows me to compare the primary interpretations to the modern day secondary ones.
The purposes for my readings during the semester are strictly academic. Due to time constraints I rarely stray too far from reading for my current classes. All of my current reading is within the history genre. This includes The Course of Mexican History, The Hippies and American Values, Level 7, and Cold War Civil Rights. These do not represent a style I particularly like. I am drawn to historical non-fiction that pre-dates anything I am reading now sans The Hippies and American Values. My main interests are the Civil War, Vietnam War, World War II, and Colonial and Revolutionary America.
I would like my own writing style to mirror works that give a complete look at historical figures or historical events. This would be an all encompassing style. The good and the bad would be included. Often times books are written to portray the figure in a favorable light. The dirt or suspected dirt is left out. Historians should be willing to tell the truth as they see it and not concern themselves with how the public will critique their work. I hope to model my work in this fashion.