Why History?
A History
Published on 9. July 2020
Book
Hardback
410 pages
978-0-19-885872-0 (ISBN)
Description
What is the point of history? Why has the study of the past been so important for so long? Why History? A History contemplates two and a half thousand years of historianship to establish how very different thinkers in diverse contexts have conceived their activities, and to illustrate the purposes that their historical investigations have served. Whether considering Herodotus, medieval religious exegesis, or twentieth-century cultural history, at the core of this work is the way that the present has been conceived to relate to the past. Alongside many changes in technique and philosophy, Donald Bloxham's book reveals striking long-term continuities in justifications for the discipline.
Reviews / Votes
These works of outstanding scholarship are of value to anyone curious to consider the uses and pitfalls of history in a present forever parasitic on the past. * Alexandre Leskanich, TLS * Bloxham's study is outstanding in its grasp of two and a half millennia of historiography, and he traces his subject through time and space seemingly effortlessly. * Konrad Hauber, German Historical Institute London Bulletin * On the whole, Why History? is a marvel of both clarity and erudition...the footnotes and bibliography...are treasure troves and I found myself repeatedly stopping to take note of an essay or monograph I'd not run across. * Professor Daniel Woolf, Queen's University, Reviews in History *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
778 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-885872-0 (9780198858720)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Donald Bloxham has taught at Edinburgh University since 2001. He was appointed Professor of Modern History in 2007 and given the established Richard Pares Chair of History in 2011. Beyond his work on the history and philosophy of the discipline of history, he is a specialist in the study of genocide and the punishment of perpetrators of genocide. His book, The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford, 2005), won the Raphael Lemkin Prize for genocide scholarship. He has also been a recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize and is currently on a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.
Content
Introduction
1: Classical History between Epic and Rhetoric
2: History, Faith, Fortuna
3: The 'Middle Age'
4: Renaissances and Reformations
5: Society, Nature, Emancipation
6: Nationalism, Historicism, Crisis
7: Turns to the Present
8: Justifying History Today
Bibliography
1: Classical History between Epic and Rhetoric
2: History, Faith, Fortuna
3: The 'Middle Age'
4: Renaissances and Reformations
5: Society, Nature, Emancipation
6: Nationalism, Historicism, Crisis
7: Turns to the Present
8: Justifying History Today
Bibliography