"History" is a work of philosophy, in the form of a short essay. It could also be called a historiography in the literal sense of the word, or a work of historical philosophy: in "History," Emerson lays out his understanding of the basic formulation of history as a discipline and as a way of thinking through humanity's past. Given history's central importance to humanity's understanding of itself, Emerson is deeply concerned with the way that humanity thinks and writes about its own past as a direct reflection of how humanity inevitably thinks and writes about itself.
Emerson's work bears the unmistakable mark of the transcendentalist philosophical tradition, which exploded in the 19th century and held that nature, humanity—everything, really—was part of a cohesive whole, and that each individual thing can reflect the nature of all things. His work also reveals his alignment with the Unitarian religious movement that harnessed religious and spiritual philosophy in New England to bolster the transcendentalist cause.
"History" also contains an original poem by Emerson as a preface, and many of the themes explored within the essay originated in his work as a lecturer and preacher in the 1830s and 1840s, so although "History" is firmly a philosophical essay, it nonetheless bears the influence of oratory and poetry—and Emerson's prose has long been praised for its poetic qualities.
