(가) We historians have a responsibility to historical facts in general, and for criticizing the abuse* of history in particular*. I need say little about the first of these responsibilities. I would not have to say anything, but for two developments. One is the current fashion* for novelists to base their plots on recorded reality rather than inventing* them, thus fudging the border* between historical fact and fiction. The other is the rise of ꡐpostmodernistꡑ intellectual fashions in universities, particularly in departments of literature and anthropology*, which imply that all ꡐfactsꡑ claiming objective existence* are simply intellectual constructions ― in short, that there is no clear difference between fact and fiction. But there is. And for historians, the ability to distinguish between the two is absolutely fundamental*.