Presenting History: Past and Present

ISBN-13: 9780230242081 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 368 str.

Peter J Beck

Opis

Presenting History highlights the vital role of presenters in establishing why history matters and communicating the past to an audience. Case studies of leading historians, historical novelists and television history presenters explore alternative literary and visual ways of presenting the past both as academic and popular history.

Spis treści

List of Boxes.- Preface.- Acknowledgements.- List of Abbreviations.- Introduction.- PART I: PRESENTING HISTORY Why History and Presenters of the Past Matter.- Presenting History in Academia.- Reaching Out to a Popular Audience.- PART II: PRESENTERS OF THE PAST: CASE STUDIES A.J.P. Taylor: the People's 'History Man'.- Eric Hobsbawm: the Marxist Historian .- Simon Schama: the Television Historian

O autorze

PETER J. BECK Emeritus Professor of History at Kingston University, UK and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His publications include Using History, Making British Policy: the Treasury and Foreign Office, 1950-1976 and Scoring for Britain: International Football and International Politics, 1900-1939. He has contributed to a wide range of publications, radio and television programmes in the UK and internationally, including History Today and the BBC History Magazine.

Blurb

Who reads academic histories? Should historians reach out more beyond academia to the general public? Why do Hollywood films, historical novels and television histories prove more successful in presenting the past to a wider audience? What can historians do to improve their effectiveness in reaching and engaging their target audience in a digital age?

The way history is presented to an audience is often taken for granted, even ignored. Presenting History explores the vital role played by presenters in both establishing why history matters in today's world and communicating the past to audiences within and outside academia. Through case studies of leading historians, historical novelists, Hollywood filmmakers and television history presenters, this book looks critically at alternative literary and visual ways of presenting the past as both academic history and popular history.

Historians discussed include Stephen Ambrose, Niall Ferguson, Eric Hobsbawm, Robert A. Rosenstone, Simon Schama, Joan Wallach Scott and A.J.P. Taylor. Chapter topics include Hollywood and history; Michael Bellesiles' controversial history of gun rights in the USA; Philippa Gregory's historical novels; historians and the David Irving trial; and Terry Deary's 'Horrible Histories'.

Raising serious questions about the nature, study and communication of history, Presenting History is an essential text for historians and history students, as well as anyone involved in listening to, reading, or watching presenters of the past.