How History as Mystery Reveals Historical Thinking: A Look at Two Accounts of Finding Typhoid Mary

Historians and detectives work in similar ways, each trying to figure out what happened in the past. Both look for clues or evidence left behind, and both create a tentative explanation based on this evidence. This article begins with this important similarity in order to show how nonfiction books for children that present history as a mystery read like thrillers and reveal the process of historical thinking. We use two distinct detective stories about Typhoid Mary to show how history mysteries accomplish this: the story of the detective on the scene who, like any mystery detective, tackles a perplexing problem in front of him, and the story of the present-day historian detective who uses historical sense-making concepts to make sense of the past for today’s readers. We conclude by providing suggestions for using history mysteries in the classroom and a list of recommended titles to investigate.