With straightforward archeological evidence, yes, it does. But if you are talking about a different interpretation of well-known sources, it’s not like you have new facts—what you are offering is a new narrative and that needs, basically, to make sense. “Making sense” here implies fitting into a larger context better than the old narrative which, in turn, involves better explanations of how and why things known to happen happened.
You just complained that he wasn’t an academic.
The point of that was to draw your attention to the criteria for his work. An academic (outside of gender studies and such) generally has to be very careful about his claims and very explicit about the evidence he uses. There are a lot of safeguards against jumping to conclusions and shoddy scholarship tends to be ruinous to a reputation.
A popsci writer, on the other hand, has incentives to produce an exciting and controversial story which will sell well.
With straightforward archeological evidence, yes, it does. But if you are talking about a different interpretation of well-known sources, it’s not like you have new facts—what you are offering is a new narrative and that needs, basically, to make sense. “Making sense” here implies fitting into a larger context better than the old narrative which, in turn, involves better explanations of how and why things known to happen happened.
The point of that was to draw your attention to the criteria for his work. An academic (outside of gender studies and such) generally has to be very careful about his claims and very explicit about the evidence he uses. There are a lot of safeguards against jumping to conclusions and shoddy scholarship tends to be ruinous to a reputation.
A popsci writer, on the other hand, has incentives to produce an exciting and controversial story which will sell well.