"The greatest historian" Topic

All of our historical gaming is based to a greater or lesser extent on the flawed work of historians.
Few, if any historians down the ages have not written with an agenda, or a bias whether deliberate or inherant.
Having said this, I wonder which historian in the pantheon would qualify as the greatest?
I nominate Josephus, the ex-Jewish general who wrote history for the Romans.
Not perfect ofcourse but he, at least, could see the conflict he wrote about from both sides.
Your nomination: ancient or modern?

Arrian. Secondary and almost sole remaining source for the much debated biography of Alexander and his hangers-on.

William Siborne for his history of the Waterloo Campaign.

Gibbons or Will Durant

US GRant's memoirs are excellent. He was dying as he wrote them, motivated by leaving his family debt-free. He told it straight.

But your criteria for "greatness" seems to be objectivity? which tends to conflict a bit with accuracy and depth of understanding?

My answer to your question would depend a lot on the criteria for 'greatness."

My vote is for:

Thucydides "The Peloponnesan War" 431BC. He set the standard for many who followed.

I'm a big fan of Runciman and Cantor.

Shelby Foote made the Civil War for Southern Succession come alive for me, especially when I he read the books on disk.

Moses. He recorded an account of his own death. Technically, it was dictated to him, but from an authoritative source.

Thucydides certainly wrote with an agenda and a bias so he fits the bill on that accord.

While he is usually accorded more fame as a philosopher than historian I'd have to put James Harrington up there. He understood more than the facts of the history and managed to get to the underlying causes more so than anyone else had done to that point.

Actually I'd like to take back my vote and nominate Trevor Houser. He has really managed to grasp the root of the underlying themes behind American history, at least as it is understood in modern schools.

link

not only is that link deeply disturbing, but I'm afraid to ask how you found it!

Heavy use of "F" in that last link, folks.

Sellers and Yeatman, for "1066 and All That".

I can't say who was/is the greatest historian, but who is my favourite read: Steven Runciman. Damm! That man knew how to write!

Samuel Eliot Morison. I like his style.

BTW, Calling Josephus "not perfect" is a masterpiece of understatement.

Barbara Tuchman, her books "Guns of August", "A Distant Mirror" were excellent.

Terry

I would like to point out that Flavius (sic) Josephus was a world-class suck-up and tattle-tale. I admire his skill and success, but he certainly had an agenda.

Aecurtis, can you really consider Moses the author? More like the stenographer.

I'll nominate Herodotus for 'greatest historian'. He had a weakness for a good story, but so do I. Herodotus wrote down what he was told, at a time when most writers were recording only their most vivid hallucinations.

Herodotus apparently also visited the battlefields and other places he wrote about. He was quite the traveler for the 5th century BC.

Hans Delbruck. Father of modern military history and the name on the brain Igor was supposed to steal for Froederick Frankenstein.

@AE
You think Moses wrote Genesis?
@OFM
Thankyou. I am noted for my masterly understatements. Cut them open and they're a delicate pink inside. Very toothsome.

Shadnasty beat me to it. Herodotus made history entertaining.

I'll go with the Father of History.

Eye-gor. It's Eye-gor, Jay.

"The King of the Medes dreamed that his youngest daughter got up in the night to pee, and she peed so much that it overflowed her chamber pot and flooded the palace and the city and the entire world! Then the king woke up in a cold sweat…"

Nobody beats Herodotus for a good story.

Procopius.

Without a doubt W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman, undeniably the only history book you will ever need.

Not the greatest, but I've always had a soft spot for Alan Clark. In his book on Crete he constantly refers to the Germans as "The enemy"
Always good to know where your Historian is coming from!

Me

Bruce Catton. Nuf said. He's the best. None better. Case closed. Case dismissed. :)

Has anyone here actual made it through an entire book by Will Durant without falling asleep? His writing is very dry and induces insomnia.

William Manchester would high on my list.

Some people equate a serious historian with a seriously bad writing style.
I was always taught to admire the English of a Gibbon or the Italian of a Pier Giacomo Pisoni .
If you cant/dont want to read someone's work, how can they be "great"?

Raducci:
My vote for the 'greatest' historian ever is H.G.Wells,of whom it was once said "wrote far more history than he ever read!"
Rod Robertson.

Ammianus Marcellinus and Edward Gibbon. Excellent writers, too. Both are a pleasure to read.

Ralph

Whichever author has waded through the most primary sources which, at the moment, seems to be Anthony Beevor for his new edition of "The Battle for Spain"

This is the advantage that modern historians have over past, access to a wider range of primary sources which allow a greater possibility for eliminating bias.