Trust, Proof and Persuasion in Historiography: A Litigation Analogy
Journal: eScholarship (California Digital Library)
Year: 2014

Many if not most historians, and many if not most other academicians who employ history as a significant part of their discourse, form and present their arguments in ways strikingly analogous to those of lawyers in an adversarial legal system. Historians sift through and strategically select from among the legion available facts ("evidence") to create a proof-based rhetorical narrative in support of the specific interpretation, with the understanding that reviewers, including proponents of compe