I feel like this should go here since it's a question that is directed towards historians and history fans alike about the study of history. After listening to Dan Carlin's podcasts and getting all sorts of new ideas in my head, I've begun to wonder how to be become the best observer of history that I can be. As a history fan, I have begun wondering, how do the rest of you do it? What's your most effective method of analyzing history professionally or as a hobby? Do you need to remain emotionally detached from a subject (like I've started to get) in order to understand everything and not get caught up in the we consider stupidity of previous centuries? What are other ways in which you analyze history to get the best and most informative view as possible? Should you forget about political and religious affiliations while reading history books or viewing documentaries?
What are other ways in which you analyze history to get the best and most informative view as possible?
In my opinion, the best tool for being informed about history is historiography. Basically, don't trust any one source or book on a subject, read a bunch of them. Find what is the same between the accounts and what is different. See if one argument is more compelling than another. There is no guarantee that you will get every perspective on your subject, but the more books you read the less likely you are going to have all of them from the same bias.
For instance, I recommend Antony Beevor's The Battle for Spain as a starter for the subject. It covers everything well, especially the military and diplomatic side of things. Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War is older, but sometimes I think he is more clear than Beevor on some issues. Paul Preston is also outstanding in his own The Spanish Civil War, but his mild pro-Republican bias could throw some people off. The same author's The Spanish Holocaust is outstanding, but way too intimate an account of the war for beginners. Jose M. Sanchez's The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Tragedy is the work on the subject in English, but it doesn't cover the rest of the conflict in any depth. Homage to Catalonia is outstanding but too biased to be a pure history, but it shouldn't be ignored either. The same goes for Escape via Berlin by Jose Antonio Aguirre.
Now, if you read any one of those books, you might get pulled in by their bias (and every book has its bias). But if you read all of them (or even 3 or 4 of them), you will have been exposed to more than one perspective on the same events. This insulates you from being vulnerable to having one persuasive author pull the wool over your eyes, and allows you to start to form your own views on the events.
As for emotion, without both passion and a good deal of effort it is hard to get much of anywhere in history. All passion and no work is fairly useless, and all work with no passion is dull. A healthy mix of the two serves most people well.