I’ve been thinking lately that I would really enjoy writing a dissertation. Several times in the last few years I’ve considered going to grad school for a history Ph.D. I really love American history, and I wish I could do something with that interest. I don’t know that grad school will ever happen, because, what would I do with the degree? Even if I wanted to teach, which I’m not sure I would, the job market for academics is horrible. And going back to school would cost money — as it is, I’m still paying off law school loans — and I would give up the yearly salary I get from having a job.
I suppose writing a dissertation without going to grad school is really just writing a book. And I would love to write a book about some topic in American history or politics. But I have no idea how to do this sort of thing — how to do research, how to structure it, what sources to use. I get the impression that in grad school, you learn how to do historical research and how to evaluate sources, and you have an adviser and a peer community to help you structure your work.
What’s triggering this in me right now is that I’m reading Nixon’s Shadow, by David Greenberg. It’s an examination of how Richard Nixon has been perceived by various groups over the years: as a populist (by California conservatives), as a criminal (by the New Left), as a victim (by 70s conservatives), as a statesman (by the foreign policy establishment), as a nutcase (by psychohistorians), and so on. The book was originally published as Greenberg’s dissertation for his Ph.D. at Columbia a few years ago, and as I’ve been reading it, I’ve been thinking, I would love to write a book like this.
It just seems like it would be easier to do it if I knew how the hell to go about it. And it seems like you learn how to do that in grad school, with the education and the support system you get. Maybe I’m wrong?
Sometimes I think about the roads not taken. I’m not necessarily too old for a Ph.D. — if I started in the next couple of years, I’d finish in my 40s — but I don’t know if a university would want to hire a new professor in his 40s — but maybe I’m wrong — and again, I don’t really know if I would want to teach.
I need to find someone to talk to about all this…
Oh, I’m bookifying my dissertation right now. Because it was so *fun* the first time! If you look around for info on diss vs. book, you’ll find they’re quite different animals. For one thing, the diss needs to please your dissertation committee (I had four people on mine), while the book needs to get past an editor who will have the market in mind. You should take a look at the diss version of that Greenberg book (AAT 3005833 on disexpress.umi.com).
Don’t forget, too, that there’s all the coursework and exams to get through before you get to write the diss. You’re right: the academic job market for Humanists and Social Scientists is grim indeed, and my older peers seem to be suffering the most.
There’s also the problem that for a dissertation, you’re expected to come with hundreds of pages about some insanely narrow topic that no one has thought of before. That’s how you end up with topics like that of the professor who was my undergrad advisor: the significance of cattle auction records in three towns in 15th century Burgundy. Somehow, he wrote 350 pages about that.
Two comments: 1. David Greenberg had considerable journalistic expereience before he went to graduate school–books like that, of course, don’t roll tripping off the tongue.
2. If you want an excellent example of what someone with only a J.D. and a good historical instinct can accomplish without going to graduate school, take the case of Annette Gordon-Reed–with whose work you, as a product of Mr. Jefferson’s University, are more than likely familiar.