Aurora, I wish that I was able to work as a historian! No, at this point it is simply what I studied at university, and what has informed much of my writing, teaching and public speaking over the past 25 years. I have been able to put some of that study and research into practice, and it has and continues to be a passion of mine. One of the outcomes I am most proud of was being able to put a filmmaker friend together with a Historian whose theories on ancient calamities at the time of the Exodus from Egypt I was familiar with. It made for a successful movie, as well as subsequent bestselling books from them working together.
All that being said, the argument could be made, and would be made by some here, that one can and should live a halachicly observant lifestyle completely immersed in the study of solely Jewish texts with as little connection to the rest of the world as possible. So be it, though that doesn’t work for me. Nor, I suspect, would it work for you.