If historians really regard themselves as "artists" rather than social scientists than I really pity that profession. If you are doing no more than telling stories than you are novelists not historians. If on the hand you tell a story that attempts to approximate as closely as possible realities of the past (however imperfect they may be) than you are a scientist. I do not know why it is so terrible to be labeled a scientist. I think a scientist is a fairly honorable title. There are bad scientists, but there are also bad artists. Historians who wish to be scientists lift up your heads-your colleagues who glory in their cleverness that they are "simply telling stories with no basis in objective reality" will soon find themselves marginalized into non-existence. In these economic times a discipline that does not take it self seriously will not be taken seriously by others.