Caro on Valenti on the Best Historians

I heard Robert Caro, the biographer of Lyndon Johnson, talking to Brian Lamb on C-span and bosting (sic?) about how Johnson's minion Jack Valenti had ranked him with "the best historiaans" whom he identified as Macaulay and Gibbon.

Caro seemed pleased. This doesn't work for me in so many ways. One, Valenti is surely major-league suckup by any standard and I can't believe anything he'd say by way of a compliment. Two, I doubt very much that he ever read a history book of any sort, and that would include the six he is said to have written.

But three--Gibbon and Macaulay? Okay, I suppose Gibbon is likely to show up on a lot of lists, and he is a kind of a presence, but I think he is vastly overrated, probably most by people who haven't read him--or who haven't read enough him to realize how tedious and predictable that trademark Gibbonian style can become. But Macaulay was nothing more than a popularizer--the kind of guy whose name you would bandy about (especially) if you didn't know the name of any other historian.

So, who would you pick as the two greatest historians? This kind of contest is always a mug's game. Still, I think I'd have to start with Thucydides. I'd skip over Livy (the Roman Macaulay?). If I had to limit myself to a big British narrative history, I'd surely take Hume over Gibbon. But I am not sure I should be so restricted. What of the great 19th Century Germans, who more or less invented history--of whom, I admit, not knowing a word of German, I have not read a word. Well okay, how about Burkhardt--Swiss, and readily available in translation? What about Michelet, the French Macaulay?

I seem to be getting bogged down here. The point is that after Thucydides, there doesn't seem to be a clear second choice, or 20 second choices, and nobody for third. I suppose if you want to get serious about this, you'd probably have to go all the way to the 20th Century and pick Marc Bloch or Fernand Braudel. I doubt that those names would be on Valenti's smooth tongue. Heck, what about skipping the whole lot and just settling for Robert Caro? I think he'd be pleased.

Update: Damn, I forgot Tacitus, who might just be second behind Thucydides. Shamefaced thanks to Carlton for the reminder.