‘It is the ethics of the profession to be forward in correcting errors. The difference between the old and the new lies in the desire to have men think you are infallible and the desire to be accurate.’
This book is a collection of writings and addresses by James Ford Rhodes on a variety of historical topics. Commentaries on famous historians, historiography, the American Civil War, and other historical events are included in this volume. During his time, Rhodes was considered to be a “scientific” historian who analysed historical events dispassionately. The collected writings of this book serve as examples of his dispassionate and “scientific” analysis.
James Ford Rhodes was an American businessman and historian. He is best known for his writings on the American Civil War and the Reconstruction period. His book on the history of the Civil War won the second ever Pulitzer Prize for History.