The passage implies that though collecting basic information is important, historians' primary duty extends beyond this. It highlights how selective and interpretive historical writing is, with historians encouraged to go farther into understanding the context and driving forces of historical events.
Option A: The author argues that the historian's primary role exceeds merely establishing the most fundamental chronological facts, regardless of the importance of timelines.
Option B: The author emphasizes the historian's selective and creative role in portraying historical events, while acknowledging the importance of auxiliary sciences. It also indicates that the historian's focus should expand beyond relying simply on these sciences for fundamental facts.
Option C aligns with the goal of offering a nuanced narrative by delving into the socio-political and economic aspects that preceded the Battle of Hastings. This choice reflects a more thorough and comprehensive approach to historical writing by prioritizing an awareness of the root causes and factors that shaped the historical event.
Option D: While appreciating the value of fundamental facts, the author believes that historians must do more than just gather information.
According to the passage, historians may depend on fields like archeology, among others, to find fundamental facts. The part that is pertinent is this one:
"But [to] praise a historian for his accuracy is like praising an architect for using well-seasoned timber or properly mixed concrete in his building. It is a necessary condition of his work, but not his essential function. It is precisely for matters of this kind that the historian is entitled to rely on what have been called the 'auxiliary sciences' of history—archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics, chronology, and so forth."
Historians can utilize the "auxiliary sciences" to verify the accuracy of fundamental facts. This list includes archaeology, which suggests that by supplying evidence in the form of artifacts, material remains, and other archaeological findings, archaeology aids historians in determining factual correctness.
As a result, Option A accurately depicts how archaeology aids historians in their quest for factual accuracy.
“Why do they pull down and do away with crooked streets, I wonder, which are my delight, and hurt no man living? Every day the wealthier nations are pulling down one or another in their capitals and their great towns: they do not know why they do it; neither do I. It ought to be enough, surely, to drive the great broad ways which commerce needs and which are the life-channels of a modern city, without destroying all history and all the humanity in between: the islands of the past.” (From Hilaire Belloc’s “The Crooked Streets”)
Based only on the information provided in the above passage, which one of the following statements is true?