Let’s suppose that you wanted to write an op-ed piece for the local paper. How would you go about using, in an appropriate way, historical examples? Well, thankfully, there are some guidelines you can use. The History News Service provides a long list that can be accessed here: http://www.h-net.org/~hns/opedstyle.html
This is an interesting step in the process: “4. Thicken and intensify the historical issue. Provide details.” I understand the directive to provide details, but I’m not sure what is meant by thickening a historical issue. Better is this part: “the historical analogy that people are using is dangerous and probably wrong….”
