From reliable sources

From reliable sources is an introduction to historical methodology, an overview of the techniques historians must master in order to reconstruct the past. Its focus is on the basics of source criticism and is a guide for all students of history and for anyone who must extract meaning from written and unwritten sources. Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier explore the methods employed by historians to establish the reliability of materials; how they choose, authenticate, decode, compare, and, finally, interpret those sources. Illustrating their discussion with examples from the distant past as…