Who are some trustworthy historians that do not distort history for their own twisted agenda? Historians who deal with Catholic history would be great.

Who are some trustworthy historians that do not distort history for their own twisted agenda? Historians who deal with Catholic history would be great.

Well, if you are working with a Novus Ordo school's educational background, you need the basics.  I would start with Eusebius's "History of the Church" and then read Sister Mary Catherine Clark's "Our Glorious Popes."  Then "The Guillotine and the Cross" by Dr. Warren Carroll.  Of course there are histories within those time periods, such as the pagan historians, most notably Tacitus, a Roman, and Thucydides, a Greek.  You might want to read "The Age of Alexander," And Julius Caesar's "The Conquest of Gaul."  Then St Gregory of Tours's "History of the Franks" and the English history of Venerable Bede.  Then Régine Pernoud's "The Crusaders" and really anything by her.  William Thomas Walsh has two books called "Characters of the Inquisition" and "Phillip II," and both are reputed to be very good.  Hilaire Belloc's histories are pretty good, at least his character studies are in comparison to his general histories, but he takes rather pedictable and easy stances on what are actually very intricate and controversial subjects, such as the Thirty Years' War.  Oh, and Solange Hertz is good.  All that should get you started before you tackle anything more advanced, since, like most things, you need a base knowledge and familiarity before you can go very far into it.  

A few recommendations :

In all secondary sources, look at their bibliographies and try to acquire any crucial primary docuмents they cite.  In this way, you can become accustomed to thinking about the subject-matter on its own terms, not based on somebody's interpretation of it.

Also, always prefer primary sources over secondary ones unless the subject-matter is too dense and undecipherable.  I think you will find that the more recent the event, the more difficult it is to analyze with primary sources alone.  There is really very little comparison, however, between knowledge based on primary sources and knowledge based on another's summation of them.

Finally, go to the great battles, wars, and the history of Popes, Saints, and Kings.  These are the primary agents in history, the flashpoints and the poles upon which all the rest turns.  Understand the great men and you will  understand their ages as well as avoid being sidelined into sociological nonsense and Marxist historiography that is ultimately misleading and not very important.  In order to know all of history you would need the collective memories of everybody to ever live; focus on what is most important to know for the salvation of your soul, i.e., how you can advance the Kingship of Our Lord and defend His Church.  The only things that limit you are not knowing many foreign languages and time and money; but history is a lifelong study, so don't get impatient and think you need to buy every book and read them all.

how about jaime balmes. is he good?

Walsh is very good. His book on the Inquisition is indispensible as a source of apologetics. The only criticism of his work could be that he is too much of an author of literature rather than history. His writing is more like a narrative with historical facts interwoven into the dialogue. It reads like sitting down with an erudite professor and discussing history casually while talking a stroll or sitting by a fire place.

If you are looking for period specific, Joseph de Maistre's Considerations sur la France is indispensible for French revolution. It is in english as well. You can get a fascimile of one of the original English translations for around 20 USD.

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