Essay Database

Historians of cultural identities have to be particularly cautious in their use of historical sources. Explore this statement in relation to autobiographies. In the study of history it is always extremely important to scrutinise a source with the utmost care. This is especially true when examining autobiographies. Autobiographies can give an extremely useful insight into a historical subject. For example Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' would be extremely useful for a historian of cultural identities studying Nazism …

…such as autobiographies always lie at the base of any historical study but an individuals account can never be taken as gospel on it's own. Without other evidence to corroborate an autobiography with it will remain almost useless. With sufficient evidence many of the disadvantages can be eliminated. But often all the evidence available to a historian is not sufficient. So even then an autobiography should still be treated with caution as with any source.