This review examines historians" struggles for the defense of history in The Poverty of Theory by Edward P. Thompson, and Telling the Truth about History by Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt and Margaret Jacob. These authors have suggested desirable methods and perspectives by which we can recognize the past in the face of contemporary intellectual dangers that can obstruct historical awareness. Thompson wants to sophisticate historical materialism based on human agency against the danger of idealism and determinism of Althusser" theory, while Appleby, Hunt and Jacob seek to pave the way for practical realism based on a recognition of the social and democratic character of scientific work and the democratic practice of history between traditionalist absolutism and postmodernist relativism. In doing so, new efforts are made to defend the notion of trusting the past and human ability to know it, and to encourage empirical searches for grasping social totality. This review argues that today"s researchers should read these books, put them in contemporary context and draw meaningful implications from them.