History: What and Why? is a highly accessible introductory survey of historians' views about the nature and purpose of their subject. It offers a historical perspective and clear guide to contemporary debates about the nature and purpose of history, and a discussion of the traditional model of history as an account of the past 'as it was'. It assesses the challenges to orthodox views and examines the impact of Marxism, feminism and post-colonialism on the study of history.
This second edition has been updated to reflect the continuing, and still increasing, debate...
History: What and Why? is a highly accessible introductory survey of historians' views about the nature and purpose of their subject. It o...
Beverley C. Southgate B. Southgate Southgate Bever
This work is an accessible introductory survey of historians' views about the nature and purpose of their subject. It offers a historical perspective and clear guide to contemporary debates about the nature and purpose of history and a discussion of the traditional model of history as an account of the past as it was. It assesses the challenges to orthodox views and examines the impact of Marxism, feminism and post-colonialism on the study of history. This second edition has been updated to reflect the continuing, and still increasing, debate surrounding these issues. In particular it...
This work is an accessible introductory survey of historians' views about the nature and purpose of their subject. It offers a historical perspective ...
This original and thought-provoking study looks at the context of postmodernist thought in general cultural terms as well as in relation to history. Postmodernism in History traces philosophical precursors of postmodernism and identifies the roots of current concerns. Beverley Southgate describes the core constituents of postmodernism and provides a lucid and profound analysis of the current state of the debate. His main concern is to counter 'pomophobia' and to assert a positive future for historical study in a postmodern world. Postmodernism in History is a valuable...
This original and thought-provoking study looks at the context of postmodernist thought in general cultural terms as well as in relation to history. <...
An experienced author of history and theory presents this examination of the purpose of history at a time when recent debates have rendered the question 'what is history for?' of utmost importance. Charting the development of historical studies and examining how history has been used, this study is exceptional in its focus on the future of the subject as well as its past. It is argued that history in the twenty-first century must adopt a radical and morally therapeutic role instead of studying for 'its own sake'. Providing examples of his vision of 'history in post-modernity',...
An experienced author of history and theory presents this examination of the purpose of history at a time when recent debates have rendered the que...
An experienced author of history and theory presents this examination of the purpose of history at a time when recent debates have rendered the question 'what is history for?' of utmost importance. Charting the development of historical studies and examining how history has been used, this study is exceptional in its focus on the future of the subject as well as its past. It is argued that history in the twenty-first century must adopt a radical and morally therapeutic role instead of studying for 'its own sake'. Providing examples of his vision of 'history in post-modernity'...
An experienced author of history and theory presents this examination of the purpose of history at a time when recent debates have rendered the questi...
.Why Bother With History? argues for an increasingly important role for a revitalised historical study. Examining the motivations of past historians, the author rejects the ancient aspiration to a 'history for its own sake' and argues that historians' importance lies in their own adoption of a moral standpoint, from which a story of the past can be told, that facilitates the attainment of a future we desire. Inevitably controversial, in that it challenges many of the assumptions of modernist history, this is an interdisciplinary book, which draws in particular on psychology and...
.Why Bother With History? argues for an increasingly important role for a revitalised historical study. Examining the motivations of pas...
Beverley C. Southgate B. Southgate Southgate Bever
Postmodernism has significantly affected the theory and practice of history. It has induced fears about the future of historical study, but has also offered liberation from certain modernist constraints. This study looks at the context of postmodernist thought in general cultural terms as well as in relation to history. It traces philosophical precursors of postmodernism and identifies the roots of current concerns. The author describes the core constituents of postmodernism and provides an analysis of the current state of the debate. His main concern is to counter pomophobia and to assert a...
Postmodernism has significantly affected the theory and practice of history. It has induced fears about the future of historical study, but has also o...
.Why Bother With History? argues for an increasingly important role for a revitalised historical study. Examining the motivations of past historians, the author rejects the ancient aspiration to a 'history for its own sake' and argues that historians' importance lies in their own adoption of a moral standpoint, from which a story of the past can be told, that facilitates the attainment of a future we desire. Inevitably controversial, in that it challenges many of the assumptions of modernist history, this is an interdisciplinary book, which draws in particular on psychology and...
.Why Bother With History? argues for an increasingly important role for a revitalised historical study. Examining the motivations of pas...
Linking fiction with history and historical theory, 'A New Type of History': Fictional Proposals for dealing with the Past focuses on a selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century novelists - Tolstoy, Proust, John Cowper Powys, Virginia Woolf, Wyndham Lewis, Penelope Lively, and James Hamilton-Paterson - who have criticized scientifically based history and proposed alternative ways of approaching the past: more subjective and personal, colourful and imaginative, and above all ethically orientated. In this, it is argued, they have been reverting to an earlier rhetorical model for...
Linking fiction with history and historical theory, 'A New Type of History': Fictional Proposals for dealing with the Past focuses on a sele...
