Hi, y'all! I've been going to my local library recently and there is are so many collections filled with books waiting to be read. Currently, I am reading The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas) and plan to read his The Man in the Iron Mask right after. Outside of library books, I read Tolkien's The Hobbit online and purchased my own physical copy of Lord of the Rings, which is what I hope to start reading bits of it once I complete the works by Dumas. Now, I know that will take me quite a while, but there's fun in the journey.
I also really like history books and found many that seem great to read, especially ones where there are scholars or dedicated historians going through them such as say a Egyptian studies professor going deep in a book about the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, I am always worried about lack of impartiality in books such as this, so how can I guarantee or avoid as much bias as I can. I know I could easily just Wikipedia history if I want to- but the point of me reading is to get away from my devices because of all that eye strain I have in my regular studies.
TLDR: Cool history books in library, obscure authors who are usually historians or professors of the field the book talks about, how do I make sure I don't get a biased pov
by PenguinInTheTrenches
5 Comments
Bias exists in everyone and in all of our work. Find an author & publisher whose ethics you respect.
You read widely until you can recognize the angle of the narrative and assess it. The answer is to read, read, read to increase your own knowledge and hone your judgement.
Whenever I’m reading history, I’ll look around online to see what people say about bias. For example, I wanted to read a Nixon biography but wanted to find one who didn’t just think of him as the devil because of Watergate (not because it’s not bad, but that’s one really bad thing out of many things–good and bad–Nixon did throughout his life).
I was able to find one that I thought was largely impartial and more factual than opinion.
Another tactic is, sometimes authors will team up to write books. I’ve found that some of the best non-fiction books on history and politics have come from left and right leaning authors teaming up together. The nice thing is, they can often keep each other in check with the partisanship and bias.
They should always have sources and acknowledgments in the back. Scan through those for any obvious red flags. If a history book has no acknowledgment of outside work, that’s also a red flag to me. You can also see if they acknowledge where they studied/worked to see if that gives insight. Ultimately I think reading multiple books and getting multiple perspectives (even if you know it’s a biased perspective) can help fill out the whole picture a little better. Especially at the library, since the author isn’t getting money from you buying it.
I highly recommend that you read The Story of Civilization; A work by the great historian Will Durant ,it is truly a very objective work.