Rescuing the Past with Narrative History

Narrative History is...
* Factual (not imaginary) account of real people and real places in the past
* Account of sequence of events over time restricted to actual sources or implied events
* Use of historical imagination to recreate a particular episode (if consistent with sources)
* Quotes from writings as a replacement for dialogue
* Plot (theme, point of view) not manufactured or imagined but echoing what really happened
* Recreation of scenes based on actual experience (visiting the places)
* Events and sources guide the imagination and storytelling (not vice-versa)
* Honesty the key (honest use of sources, honest presentation of past, honest evocation of human experience)

How to prepare to write a narrative history...
* Interest: the person/story must intrigue you; you must wish to relive it, recreate it
* Research: sources to help you relive and recreate the past must exist
* Understanding human nature: supplements the sources so that you can make sense of a past time and place, past people
* Imagination: the ability to imagine the past, imagine what happened, imagine the people, then conform the imagination to the sources, what “really” happened
* Empathy: as you research and imagine, visit places, you must feel, sense the past, empathize with those who once lived

How to engage in a personal dialogue with the past...
* Mixture of subjective (feeling based on imagination) with objective (reason based on sources)
* Getting to know the person: their habits, feelings, thoughts, interests, aims, emotions, accomplishments
* Dealing honestly with the past: honest appraisal of person by not imposing your point of view, your preconceived notions, on the past, which is anachronistic
* Empathizing with the Past: to feel the past, you must feel the present. To understand the life of a past person, you must understand your own life.
* Your life helps you write the story of the past: your feelings help you understand past feelings; your thoughts help you understand past thoughts; your experiences help you understand past experiences.
* Narrative history/biography is the story of two lives, one life explicitly told (the past person) and one life implicitly told (your life)