Historians - Definition

This is a list of historians.

The names are grouped by order of the historical period in which they were writing, which is not necessarily the same as the period in which they specialised.

Chroniclers and annalists, though they are not historians in the true sense, are also listed here for convenience.

See also: List of historians by area of study, List of historians of the French Revolution, English historians in the Middle Ages

Ancient historians

• Appian, Roman history
• Dio Cassius, Roman history
• Herodian, Roman History
• Zosimus, Late Roman history
• Fa-Hien, Chinese Buddhist monk and historian, author of A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hein of his Travels in India and Ceylon (399–414), In Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline.
• Gaius Acilius, Roman history
• Lucius Ampelius, Roman history
• Herodotus, (485–c. 420 BC), Halicarnassian (Persia), "Father of History"
• Thucydides, (460–c. 400 BC), Peloponnesian War
• Xenophon, (431–c. 360 BC), an Athenian knight and student of Socrates
• Polybius, (203–c. 120 BC)
• Julius Caesar, (100–c. 44 BC), Gallic and civil wars
• Flavius Josephus, (37–100), Jewish history
• Kalhana
• Sima Qian, (c. 140 BC), Chinese history
• Livy, (c. 59 BC–AD 17), Roman history
• Cremutius Cordus
• Sallust, (86–34 BC)
• Plutarch, (c. 46–120)
• Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, (c. 56–c. 120), early Roman Empire
• Suetonius, (75–160)
• Thallus, Roman history
• Priscus, Byzantine history, 5th century
• Eusebius of Caesarea, (c. 275-339) Christian history
• Ammianus Marcellinus, (c. 325–c. 391)
• Arrian, Greek history
• Quintus Fabius Pictor, Roman history
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman history

Medieval historians/chroniclers

• Jordanes, (6th century), Goths
• Procopius, (died c. 565), Byzantines
• Gregory of Tours, (538–594), Franks
• Bede, (c. 632–735), Anglo-Saxons
• Nennius, shadowy historian of Wales
• Tabari, 838-923, great Persian historian
• Ibn Rustah, d. 903, Persian historian and traveller
• Asser, Bishop of Sherborne (died 908/909) - Welsh monk, Life of Alfred
• Regino of Prüm (died 915)
• Liutprand of Cremona (922-972), Byzantine affairs
• Al-Biruni, (973-1048), Persian historian
• Geoffrey of Monmouth, churchman/historian
• Thietmar of Merseburg, Polish and Russian affairs
• Nestor the Chronicler, author of the Russian Primary Chronicle
• Gall Anonymous, Polish historian
• Albert of Aix, historian of the First Crusade
• Michael Psellus the Younger, (1018–c. 1078)
• Sima Guang (1019–1086), historiographer and politician
• Marianus Scotus (1028–1082/1083), Irish chronicler
• Guibert of Nogent (1053–1124)
• Florence of Worcester (died 1118), English chronicler
• Eadmer (c. 1066–c. 1124), post-Conquest English history
• Symeon of Durham (died after 1129), English chronicler
• William of Malmesbury (c. 1080–c. 1143)
• Anna Comnena (1083–after 1148)
• Usamah ibn Munqidh (1095–1188)
• Adam of Bremen, great historian of Scandinavia
• Ata al-Mulk Juvayni (1226-83), Persian historian
• Saxo Grammaticus, (12th century), Danish
• Svend Aagesen, (12th century), Danish
• Alured of Beverley (12th century), English chronicler
• William of Tyre (c. 1128–1186)
• William of Newburgh (1135–1198), English historian called "the father of historical criticism"
• John of Worcester (fl. 1150s), English chronicler
• Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1146–c. 1223)
• Wincenty Kadlubek, (1161-1223), Polish historian
• Ambrose the poet (fl. 1190s)
• Geoffroi de Villehardouin, (c. 1160–1212)
• Nicetas Choniates (died c. 1220)
• Matthew Paris, (died 1259)
• Jean de Joinville, (1224–1319)
• Rashid al-Din, (1247–1317), Persian historian
• ibn Khaldun, (1332–1406)
• Piers Langtoft, (died c. 1307)
• Abdullah Wassaf, 13th century, Persian historian
• Jean Froissart, (c. 1337–c. 1405), chronicler
• Dietrich of Nieheim, (c. 1345–1418), ecclesiatic history
• Alphonsus A Sancta Maria, (1396–1456)
• Johannes Longinus, Polish historian and chronicler
• Philippe de Commines, French historian
• Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi, d. 1454, Persian historian
• John Capgrave (1393–1464)
• Christine de Pizan, (c. 1365–c. 1430), historian, poet, philosopher
• Robert Fabyan, (died 1513)
• Albert Krantz, (1450–1517)
• Polydore Vergil (c. 1470–1555), Tudor history
• Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566), Muscovite affairs
• João de Barros (1496–1570)
• Josias Simmler, (1530–1576)
• Raphael Holinshed, (died c. 1580)
• Caesar Baronius, (1538–1607)
• Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (1540-1615), Indo-Persian historian
• John Hayward, (1564–1627)

Early modern historians (1600–1900)

• Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, (1610–1688), Medieval and Byzantine historian and philologist
• Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, (1637–1698), Ecclesiastical historian
• Laurence Echard (c.1670–1730), England
• Ludovico Antonio Muratori, (1672–1750), Italy
• Vasily Tatishchev, (1686-1750), first historian of modern Russia
• Archibald Bower (1686–1766), ill-proportioned and inaccurate historian
• Johann Lorenz Von Mosheim, (1694–1755), Lutheran historian
• Voltaire, (1694–1778), French Enlightenment philosopher and historian
• Edward Hasted, Kent
• Edward Gibbon, (1737–1794), Roman Empire and Byzantium, one of the all-time greats
• Johannes von Müller, (1752–1809)
• Anton Tomaz Linhart, (1756–1795)
• Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, (1766-1826), Russian Empire
• Piers Mackesy, (1775–1890), British and US military history
• John Colin Dunlop (c. 1785–1842)
• François Guizot, (1787–1874), French historian of general French, English history
• George Grote, (1794–1871), classical Greece
• Leopold von Ranke, (1795–1886), probably the greatest German historian
• François Mignet, (1796–1884), French historian of the Revolution, middle ages
• William H. Prescott, (1796–1859), US historian of Spain, Mexico, Peru
• Charles Upson Clark, Works on the History of Eastern Europe
• Adolphe Thiers, (1797–1877), French historian of the Revolution, Empire
• Jules Michelet, (1798–1874), French
• George Finlay (1799–1875), Greece
• Thomas Macaulay, (1800–1859), British and Roman
• George Bancroft (1800-1891), United States
• Ludwig von Köchel, (1800–1877), writer, composer, botanist, music historian
• Alexis de Tocqueville, (1805–1859) French historian, wrote The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Democracy in America.
• Alexander William Kinglake (1809–1891), works on the Crimean War
• Edward Shepherd Creasy, (1812–1878), warfare
• Grace Aguilar, (1816–1847), Jewish history
• Theodor Mommsen, (1817–1903), Roman Empire
• Jacob Burckhardt, (1818–1897), art history, European history, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.
• Zacharias Topelius, (1818–1898)
• Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, (1828–1897), Spanish historian
• Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, (1830–1889), antiquity, France
• Justin Winsor, (1831–1897), editor of the Narrative and Critical History of America, (8 vols., 1884-89)
• Heinrich von Treitschke, (1834–1896)
• Henry Adams, (1838–1918), Democracy: An American Novel
• Alfred Thayer Mahan, (1840–1914), naval history
• Frederic William Maitland, (1850–1906), legal history
• Simon Rutar, (1851–1903)
• Arnold Toynbee, (1852–1883), British
• Paul Vinogradoff, (1854–1925), later Roman Empire
• Henri Pirenne, (1862–1935), Belgian and medieval European history
• Hegel, philosopher of history

Modern historians (after 1900)

A

• Irving Abella, Canadian historian & author
• Robert G. Albion, maritime history
• Gar Alperovitz, American historian, wrote Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima & Potsdam.
• Stephen Ambrose, (1936–2002), American historian, U.S. history.
• Joyce Appleby, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England, France, and United States history
• Herbert Aptheker, (1915–2003), African American history and slave revolts
• Leonard J. Arrington (1917–1999), Mormon historian
• Jonathan Atkins, American historian, pre-civil war U.S. history.

B

• Jacques Barzun, (born 1907), cultural history
• Charles Bean, (1879–1968), Australia in World War I
• Charles A. Beard, (1874–1948), American historian, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States.
• Charles Bergquist, American historian, Latin American and labor history. Author of "Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, and Colombia".
• Isaiah Berlin, (1909–1997), history of ideas
• Michael Beschloss, (born 1955) American historian and celebrity intellectual, history of the U.S. presidency.
• David Blackbourn.
• Marc Bloch (1886–1944), medieval France
• Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004), intellectual history, American history.
• John Boswell, (1947–1994), mediævalist and gay history
• Paul Boyer, American historian, author of By the Bomb's Early Light.
• Ferdinand Braudel.
• Robin Briggs.
• Peter Brown.
• Alan Bullock, (1914–2004).
• Peter Burke.
• J. B. Bury, classical history.
• John Hill Burton, (1809–1881), Scottish Jacobin history.
• Jeffrey Burton Russell.

C

• Angus Calder, British historian, British history.
• Otto Maria Carpeaux, (1900–1978) foremost historian of Literature.
• E. H. Carr, (1892–1982) Soviet history, International Relations.
• Lionel Casson.
• Boris Celovsky, Czech-German relations.
• Howard I. Chapelle, maritime history.
• Winston Churchill (1874-1965) political, biographical, military history
• Robert Conquest, (born 1917) Russia, Soviet Union.
• Gordon Craig, (1872–1966).

D-E

• David B. Danbom.
• Saul David, military history.
• John Davies.
• Norman Davies.
• Vernon E. Davis, American historian, author of The Long Road Home: U.S. Prisoner of War Policy and Planning in Southeast Asia.
• Esther Delisle (b. 1954), French-Canadian historian & author.
• Isaac Deutscher, (1907–1967) British historian and political biographer, Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin.
• T.M. Devine, Scottish historian, author of The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700-2000.
• Robert Divine, diplomatic history.
• David Herbert Donald
• John W. Dower, American historian, author of War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War.
• Georges Duby, (1924–1996), Middle Ages.
• Eamon Duffy, 15th-17th century religious history.
• Trevor Dupuy.
• Will Durant, author of the Story of Civilization series.
• Geoff Eley.
• John Elliott, (born 1941) Early Modern Spain.
• Geoffrey Elton, Tudor England.
• Peter Englund, (born 1957), Swedish historian.

F

• Ronan Fanning, Irish historian.
• Brian Farrell, (born 1929).
• Lucien Febvre, (1878–1956), French historian.
• Niall Ferguson, British historian, author of The Pity of War: Explaining World War I.
• Joachim Fest, (born 1926), Nazi Germany.
• Orlando Figes, Russia.
• David Hackett Fuscher, American economic historian, author of The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History.
• Fritz Fischer, German historian.
• Frances Fitzgerald, American journalist and historian, author of the influential Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and Americans in Vietnam.
• Shelby Foote (1916–), American Civil War
• Michel Foucault, (1926–1984), French historian of ideas / philosopher.
• Walter Frank, (1905–1945), Nazi historian and anti-Semitic writer.
• H. Bruce Franklin American historian of the Vietnam War, wrote M.I.A. or Mythmaking in America.
• Antonia Fraser, England.
• Karl Friday, Heian Period Japan, early premodern Japanese warfare.
• Sheppard Frere.
• Bruno Fuligni.
• Francis Fukuyama, (born 1955).
• François Furet, French historian.

G

• John Lewis Gaddis, diplomatic history.
• Lloyd Gardner. diplomatic history.
• Pieter Geyl, Dutch historian.
• Martin Gilbert.
• Carlo Ginzburg, Pioneer of microhistory.
• Carol Gluck American historian, author of Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period.
• Bogo Grafenauer (1916–1995), Slovene mediavelist
• Peter Green, ancient history
• Lionel Groulx, (1878–1967), priest, historian
• Ranajit Guha , history of India and critical historiography
• John Guy, leading Tudor specialist.

H-I

• Irfan Habib
• Victor Davis Hanson, ancient warfare.
• Charles H. Haskins, Americans first medieval historian.
• Denys Hay, (1915–1994), medieval and Renaissance Europe
• Jeffrey Herf, German and European history
• Raul Hilberg, history of the holocaust
• Christopher Hill, (1912–2003), 17th century England
• Eric Hobsbawm, (born 1917) British historian, labour history.
• Richard Hofstadter, (1916–1970), American political historian, intellectual historian, author of The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It, The Age of Reform, and Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.
• Richard Holmes.
• Albert Hourani, Middle Eastern history.
• Michael Howard.
• Johan Huizinga, Dutch historian, author of Waning of the Middle Ages.
• Tristram Hunt, (born 1974).
• Michael Ignatieff, (born 1947) author of Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond.
• Eiko Ikegami Japanese historian, wrote The Taming of the Samurai .
• Jonathan Israel, British historian.
• Herbert Adams Gibbons.

J-K

• Pawel Jasienica, (1909–1970), Polish historian, Polish history.
• Marius Jensen, American historian, author of China in the Tokugawa World.
• Amy Johnson (I), American historian, modern Egpytian history
• Paul Johnson (1928–), Western civilization.
• Gwyn Jones, medieval history.
• Gregory J. Kasza, American historian, author of The State and the Mass Media in Japan, 1918–1945.
• John Keegan, (born 1934) English historian, popular military history.
• George F. Kennan, (a.k.a. 'X') American diplomat and historian, history of US-Soviet relations
• Paul Kennedy, British historian, author of influential The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.
• Ian Kershaw, German history
• Daniel J. Kevles, history of science, In the Name of Eugenics, and The Physicists.
• France Kidrič, (1880–1950), literary history.
• Gabriel Kolko.
• Thomas Kuhn, (1922–1996), history of science, author of The Copernican Revolution, Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, and the influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

L

• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, French historian, pioneer in the fields of history from below and microhistory
• Michael Laffan, Irish historian.
• David Lavender, (1910–2003), history of the American West.
• Walter Lefeber, diplomatic history.
• Melvyn Leffler, modern international relations.
• William Leuchtenburg, American political and legal history.
• Barbara Levick, English historian; Roman emperors.
• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie.
• Li Ao, (born 1935), Chinese historian.
• Leon F. Litwack, American history, African-American history, author of Been in the Storm so Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, and Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow.
• James W. Loewen.
• John Edward Lloyd.

M

• Sr. Margaret MacCurtain, Irish mediævalist
• Charles B. MacDonald, World War II.
• Kenneth Bruce McFarlane, English mediævalist
• Robert Machray
• Rosamond McKitterick.
• Ramsay MacMullen.
• Magnus Magnusson, Norse history.
• Charles Maier.
• Golo Mann (1909–1994)
• Robert Mann, American historian of the Vietnam War, wrote A Grand Delusion: America's Descent into Vietnam.
• Inga Markovits, author of Imperfect Justice: An East-West German Diary.
• Timothy Mason, history of Nazi Germany
• Tyrone G. Martin, USS Constitution.
• Rev. F.X. Martin, Irish mediævalist and campaigner.
• William McNeill.
• Laurence Marvin American historian, French mediævalist
• Yoshihisa Tak Matsutaka, wrote The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932.
• Garrett Mattingly, early modern Europe.
• Richard Maybury, United States, especially WWI, WWII, and the Middle East.
• Friedrich Meinecke, German historian.
• Hans Mommsen.
• Wolfgang Mommsen.
• Kenneth O Morgan.
• Samuel Eliot Morison, naval history.
• Benny Morris, Middle-Eastern history.
• Gary Moulton, Lewis and Clark.
• Lewis Mumford, (1895–1988).

N-Q

• Leo Niehorster, military history.
• Henry Newbolt, (1862–1938).
• Frank Ninkovich.
• Robert Novick.
• Gerard Oram, author of Military Executions during World War I.
• Richard Overy, modern history.
• Thomas Paterson.
• Peter Paret, military history.
• Geoffrey Parker (historian), early modern military history.
• Amos Perlmutter.
• Harry W. Pfanz, U.S. Civil War.
• Richard Pipes, conservative American historian, Russian and Soviet history.
• J. H. Plumb, (1911–2001), British historian.
• Roy Porter, (1946–2002), British historian, history of medicine.
• Eileen Power, Middle Ages.
• Ivan Prijatelj, (1875–1937), literary history.
• Ludwig Quidde, (1858–1941), historian and pacifist.

R

• Jonathan Riley-Smith, Crusades.
• Gerhard Ritter, German history.
• B. H. Roberts, (1857–1933), Mormon historian and leader.
• William L. Rodgers.
• Sue Rabbitt Roff, American science historian, author of Hotspots: The Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Alex Roland, history of technology.
• Theodore Roosevelt, imperialist American president and historian, War of 1812, frontier.
• Sheila Rowbotham.
• A L Rowse, (1903–1997).
• Miri Rubin, social history of Europe between 1100-1600.
• Steven Runciman, Crusades.
• Conrad Russell, historian of 17th century Britain.
• Cornelius Ryan, (1920–1974) American historian, World War II.

S

• George Sarton, (1884–1956), history of science, The Study of the History of Science.
• Norman Saul.
• Michael Schaller.
• Simon Schama, (born 1945), British historian and TV presenter, European and art history.
• Arthur Schlesinger, Jr..
• Howard Hayes Scullard (1903–1983), ancient history.
• Robert Service.
• Kenneth Setton, Crusades.
• James J. Sheehan.
• Michael Sherry.
• William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian, author of Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
• Quentin Skinner.
• Goldwin Smith, (1823–1910), historian.
• Thomas C. Smith, (1917–2004), Japanese historian, author The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan.
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, (born 1918), Russian historian and novelist.
• Christy Jo Snider, American historian.
• Albert Soboul, (1913–1982), French revolution.
• Richard Southern, medieval historian.
• Jonathan Spence, popular Chinese history.
• Jackson J. Spielvogel, Pennsylvania State University.
• Kenneth Stampp, American history, author The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South.
• David Starkey, (born 1945), Tudor historian and TV presenter.
• Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon historian.
• Ronald Syme, (1903–1989), ancient history.

T

• J. L. Talmon ,(1916-1980) ,Modern History , "The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy."
• A. J. P. Taylor, (1906–1990), Historian of European International relations.
• Romila Thapar, (born 1931), Ancient India
• Hugh Thomas, Spanish Civil War, Cuba, Atlantic Slave Trade
• E. P. Thompson, (1924–1993), British Labour historian and peace activist, author of The Making of the English Working Class.
• Elise Tipton, American and Australian hisotrian, author of Japanese Police State: Tokko in Interwar Japan.
• John Toland, (1912-2004), won 1971 Pulitzer for The Rising Sun.
• Conrad Totman, American historian, wrote A History of Japan.
• Arnold J. Toynbee, (1889–1975), A Study of History.
• Marc Trachtenberg, Cold War history.
• George Macaulay Trevelyan, (1876–1962).
• Hugh Trevor-Roper, (1914–2003), British historian and peer, specialist on the Nazi leadership.
• Barbara Tuchman, (1912–1989) American historian, wrote Joe Stillwell and the American Experience in China.
• Robert C. Tucker, Stalin.
• Frederick Jackson Turner, (1861–1932), American historian who developed the Frontier Thesis.

W-Z

• Retha M Warnicke, (born 1939), Tudor history & gender issues.
• Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, (1910–1997).
• Hans-Ulrich Wehler, German history.
• Russell Weigley, military history.
• Lieselotte Welskopf-Henrich.
• John Whyte, focused on Northern Ireland and on divided societies.
• Robert Wiebe (1930-2000).
• Peter Booth Wiley, American historian, author of Yankees in the Land of the Gods: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan.
• Eric Williams, (1911–1981), Guianese historian, Caribbean history, anti-imperialist themes.
• Glanmor Williams.
• Mary Wilhelmine Williams.
• William Appleman Williams.
• Ian Wilson.
• Heinrich August Winkler, (born 1938) German history.
• John B. Wolf, French history.
• Michael Wood.
• C. Vann Woodward, (1908–1999), southern United States
• Robert M. Young, (born 1935), American historian, history of medicine and human sciences.
• Natalie Zemon Davis , feminist cultural historian, early modern France, film and history
• Howard Zinn, (born 1922) American historian, popular U.S. history, the Left in the U.S.

Unsorted

• Pierre Vidal-Naquet, historian and Civil Rights activist
• Henri Raymond Casgrain, priest, author, historian
• Justo Gonzalez, historian and theologian
• Claude Mossé, (Ms), historian
• Jean-Pierre Vernant, historian
• Pierre Vilar, historian

See also: List of Canadian historians, Lists of authors