Political history is the study of actions taken by people that are relevant in transforming the social structures in the societies they live in. This type of history focuses on what great men did to achieve power. 

Political History

- Political history
- Social history
- Cultural history
- Economic history
- Global history

New York University

History is the study and interpretation of a series of facts about the past and why certain events happened. 

History

Elton, G.R. (1970). Political History: Principles and Practice. Basic Books.

Types of Historical Approaches

History References

- U. S. History
- European History
- Modern History
- Military History
- Ancient History

Subcategories of History

A multidisciplinary field of research focuses on researching groups defined by geographic or cultural means. It considers the relationship between politics, history, culture, language, and literature to the people. It is distinguished from cultural studies due to its inclusion of emigration and diaspora in its research.

Area Studies

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life. These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories are to be preserved as a record for future generations. "Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources." Oral history also means information gathered and usually is located in archives and libraries.

Oral History

- Reading and writing history is a craft that is grounded in a certain set of historical thinking skills.
- The discipline of history is a professional field and it is guided by evolving
methodologies (that is, how historians research and write).
- Historians ask research questions, which they revise as they learn more.
- Historians search for and analyze a wide variety of sources in order to make
historical claims.
- Historiography –the history of the research and writing of a topic– allows
historians to know what questions they should be asking and what story needs to be told.

Enduring Historic Understandings

- What is historical thinking?
- How are standards in the discipline of history established and by whom?
- How do research methodologies differ in the discipline of history?
- Why is the history of the writing of a historical topic (historiography) important to consider when doing original research?
- How do historians deliberate the interpretation of sources and significance of historical topics?
- How do historians write research questions?
- How do the types of sources differ?

Essential Historic Questions

Historians study "the beliefs and desires, the practices and institutions, of human beings."

Historians

- Studying history gives us insight into how our modern ideas, schools of thought, values, and issues are formed.
- Studying history gives us a worldwide view of different perspectives to multicultural societies and their values.
- Studying history helps us make better decisions for our future.

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