When Theatres of Memory was first published in 1994, it transformed the debate about what is to be considered history and questioned the role of "heritage" that lies at the heart of every Western nation's obsession with the past. Today, in the age of Downton Abbey and Mad Men, we are once again conjuring historical fictions to make sense of our everyday lives. In this remarkable book, Samuel looks at the many different ways we use the 'unofficial knowledge' of the past. Considering such varied areas as the fashion for "retrofitting," the rise of family history, the...
When Theatres of Memory was first published in 1994, it transformed the debate about what is to be considered history and questioned the role o...
First published in 1981, this book brings together different types of work by numerous fragmented groups in the field of Marxist history and puts them in dialogue with each other. It takes stock of then recent work, explores the main new lines, and looks at the political and ideological circumstances shaping the direction of historical work, past and present. The scope of the book is international with contributions on African history, fascism and anti-fascism, French labour history, and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. It also incorporates feminist history and gives attention...
First published in 1981, this book brings together different types of work by numerous fragmented groups in the field of Marxist history and puts t...
First published in 1982, this book is inspired the ideas generated by Eric Hobsbawm, and has taken shape around a unifying preoccupation with the symbolic order and its relationship to political and religious belief. It explores some of the oldest question in Marxist historiography, for example the relationship of 'base' and 'superstructure', art and social life, and also some of the newest and most problematic questions, such as the relationship of dreams and fantasy to political action, or of past and present -- historical consciousness -- to the making of ideology. The essays, which...
First published in 1982, this book is inspired the ideas generated by Eric Hobsbawm, and has taken shape around a unifying preoccupation with the s...