The discipline of history as emergent in the 19th century in its scholarly practice or intellectual discipline exists as a social phenomena in many contemporary societies.
Contemporary societies contest the meaning and importance of their practices.
How do historians justify themselves to their societies?
For readers from societies where historians are fully funded and unmolested ready examples include:
Dawkins defunding of Australian humanities popularisation in the 1980s combined with the spectacle of bicentennial official history.
John Howard’s defunding of humanities research and promotion of pseudo historical attacks on Australian historiography during the history wars
the Goldhagen debate on German ethnic culpability for the holocaust
Irving versus Penguin books