Although it is generally felt that Ban Gu, with his strict adherence to Confucian ideology, was not so sophisticated a thinker as Sima Qian, our understanding of the Western Han dynasty rests largely upon the work of Ban Gu. Although the Historical Records are widely recognized as superior to Ban's History, the enormous value of the latter cannot be denied.
儘管一般認為班固囿於儒家觀點，《漢書》的思想性因此不如《史記》，但班固多使用四字句，文字錘鍊，可讀性高，後人對漢代的瞭解，更大量依賴他的記載。