History and Future Using Historical Thinking to Imagine the Future

Perhaps the most important historiographic innovation of the twentieth century was the application of the historical method to wider and more expansive areas of the past. Where historians once defined the study of history strictly in terms of politics and the actions and decisions of great men, historians today are just as likely to inquire into a much wider domain of the past, from the lives of families and peasants to more abstract realms such as the history of mentalities and emotions. Regardless of the topic, historians ask questions, seek evidence, draw inferences from that evidence, create representations, and subject these representations to the scrutiny of other historians.

David J. Staley is director of the Harvey Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching at Ohio State University and principal of the DStaley Group, a consulting firm based in Westerville, Ohio.