Who is the historian? What do historians do? Where do their explorations take them? What is the impact of the digital age on historical research?

In an affable style, Nigel A. Raab answers these questions for those intrigued by the past. Each chapter describes a specific aspect of "doing history," beginning in the physical spaces of archives and libraries around the globe. Readers are then introduced to the sources--texts, oral interviews, films, and objects--which historians interpret. Raab points out that historians do not work alone with their materials; rather, archivists,...