On the Historian Question...

"Who is our Herodotus? Our Pliny? Our Tacitus?"

That might be the BEST question posed on this site since its inception. OUTSTANDING discussion topic... well done!

Classical-period historians (Herodotus, Xenophon, Josephus, Dio Cassius, Suetonius) give us the very (VERY) limited glimpse of life in the classical period... and there are so few extant examples of such works that the names ring through the ages. Since the 16th Century, extant writings of more modern historians have been more readily available to us, mainly because of Johannes Gutenberg, so the choices of whom we are going to refer to in the realm of historical studies grows every year.

I'd have to say that the last, really "epic" work of historical study to come from an English author was Edward Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" in 6 volumes between 1776 and 1788. I'd put Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" up there, too... but I'm not sure that is actually a work for an "historian" as much as for an economist, even though the bulk of it is a study of the history of economics.

Now, if you wanted a list of whom I think are the greatest "modern" historians, I can't narrow it to just one or two. I'll give you a short list of my personal favorites here:

Shelby Foote and his three-volume masterpiece The Civil War: A Narative

Anything Simon Shama wrote or produced on the history of the British Isles.

James Burke's Connections series.

Jaroslav Pelikan's 5-volume "epic" masterpiece "The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine" is the stand-alone greatest work on the history of Christianity ever written... and the man wasn't even Catholic.

Danny Danziger has written a series of books (three that I know of) about very specific periods of time... 1000 AD, 1215 AD and 1453 AD... all very detailed in their accounts and all very fun to read. Ryan still has my copy of The Year 1000, so it must be good.

David McCullough has written some absolutely SUPERB books in his day. Truman, 1776, and John Adams are my favorites (with 1776 taking top spot). He's also the narrator for Ken Burn's Civil War, too.

Jeez... the more I think, the more I can list here. There are so many to choose from. Who have I NOT put up that need to be there?