Why Historians are careful with Personal Accounts of events... it's Perspective! #history

Historians treat memoirs and recollections as perspectives on remembered events, then evaluate what each claim can support.

A junior officer may overstate who proposed a desirable idea in a memoir while still showing that the idea was probably discussed within the organisation.

When an account ignores an event, historians ask whether the writer lacked access to it or had a reason to conceal it.

When evidence proves that a participant lied about an event, the lie may reveal guilt and an awareness at the time that the conduct was wrong.