History help?

Question

is history accurate why or why not
2 tipes of history

Answer 1

Hello,

As far as "factual" events go I would say yes overall.
How history is "interpreted" may not be since one man's truth could be another man's lie.

Cheers,

Michael Kelly

Answer 2

Historians value primary sources - things written at the time of an event. The trouble is - you cannot be sure that the contemporary writers truly know what they are talking about. Maybe they were not actually there. Maybe they are angry with someone and are writing to make someone look bad. A good example may be Lucretia Borgia - 1480 to1519 - who was much maligned by contemporaries who wrote about her. The Borgia family had many enemies. I suspect her father the pope (Alexander VI) and her brother Cesare were "bad" people, but she might not have been as bad as she was said to be. It's difficult to judge reliability on a news story today let alone one from centuries ago.
What if the only historical records to survive five hundred years from now were issues of the National Inquirer or some other unreliable tabloid? Tthat history would hardly be accurate. There is ALWAYS bias in the writer who records historical events other than simple facts and figures - though even these data can be "fudged". Bottom line - you cannot trust ANY source completely - even the bible since it was written and then translated by imperfect humans.
As for types of history - there are many types. It depends what you are really asking. Oral tradition. Written records.
Primary sources. Secondary sources. Political history. Social history. The list is extensive.