As one of the "professional historians" (to use Steinhauer's terminology), this was a sobering read. I am an academic historian. I have published peer-reviewed articles in specialized journal and one monograph with a reputable academic press. I am proud of these accomplishments (took a while, believe me), but I know most of the people who read it are academic historians, like me, and most of them write about the same subject. In other words, it has a limited, specialized, audience. I think it's fair to say most professional history fares similarly. Steinhauer's book offers a fascinating, timely, and much needed explanation of why this is so nowadays.
The book explores what it means to "do history" in the digital age. Steinhauer's shows how different it is to write about history in academia from writing about it on the internet. He calls internet history "e-history" and shows that it is underpinned by a set of values that is quite different from, and even contrasts with, the values that underpin academic history. e-history is user-centric, data driven, commercial (that is, aimed at generating profit by increasing "clicks"), and extrinsically valuable (meaning, its value derives from its ability to generate public interest.) e-history also tends to follow the news cycle, and like the news cycle, it is produced quickly and it becomes outdated quickly. Academic history is slow (takes a looooooong time to do archival research, write a doctoral dissertation, then revise it into a book manuscript, etc.,) expert-centric, intrinsically valuable (its derives its importance from its own existence), and always evolving (historical interpretations change all the time.) Steinhauer argues that if historians want to be read by a wider public, they will need to adapt to the new digital environment we're all living in. This means "translating" their way of doing history to the way of doing e-history. Easier said than done, but Steinhauer's book is an excellent beginning, and it should launch a wider conversation about contemporary understandings of the past.
I loved it. I was both inspired, and annoyed, by it. The annoying thing wasn't the book (it's excellent); rather, it was the realization that I need to adapt to this new way of producing, and consuming, knowledge. The book is well written, well researched, and insightful. Academic historians need to read it, but I also think anyone interested in how the internet transforms social thought on many things, including the past, should read it. And it is a fast read, thanks to Steinhauer's accessible, and engaging, prose.
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About the author
"History, Disrupted" is a must-read if you care about the impact of social media on our world.
The communications landscape continues to expand exponentially, and "History, Disrupted" is a thoughtful and clear accounting of just what's going on. I recommend it without reservation.
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