§25. Historians of the Latest Period. XV. Later Historians. Vol. 17. Later National Literature, Part II. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVII. Later National Literature, Part II.

XV. Later Historians.

§ 25. Historians of the Latest Period.

Historians of the Latest Period. 13 Of the men in this group not one rejected the dogma of the supremacy of accuracy, but in varying degrees they cherished the notion that history should have literary merits. In all of them the new school triumphed but the old yielded slowly. It was only with Mahan and Henry Adams that style became an unconscious expression of clearly formed ideas. That it was always good is too much to assert; but at its best it was a subordinate part of the historian’s purpose. The men of this group, the most conspicuous of our recently deceased historians, all worked in constant fear of inaccuracies.

Note 13. This chapter does not deal with living historians, even though it is necessary, in carrying out such a policy, to omit any discussion of so excellent an historian as James Ford Rhodes. [ back ]