A Global History of History

by Daniel Woolf

Overview

A global history of historical writing, thought and the development of the historical discipline from the ancient world to the present. This is a definitive guide to human efforts to recover, understand and represent the past, bringing together different historical traditions and their social, economic, political and cultural contexts. Daniel Woolf offers clear definitions of different genres and forms of history and addresses key themes such as the interactions between West and East, the conflict of oral, pictographic, and written accounts of the past and the place of history in society and in politics. Numerous textual extracts and illustrations in every chapter capture the historical cultures of past civilizations and demonstrate the different forms that historical consciousness has taken around the world. The book offers unique insights into the interconnections between different historical cultures over 3000 years and relates the rise of history to key themes in world history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521699082
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/17/2011
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	606
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Daniel Woolf is Professor of History at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. His previous publications include Reading History in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and the two-volume Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing (1998). He is also general editor of the Oxford History of Historical Writing (2010 onwards).

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Foundations; 2. History during the first millennium AD; 3. An age of global violence, c.1000 to c.1450; 4. History in the early modern empires: Europe, China, Islam; 5. Transatlantic histories: contact, conquest and cultural exchange 1450–1800; 6. Progress and history in the Eurasian Enlightenments; 7. The broken mirror: nationalism, romanticism and professionalization in the nineteenth-century West; 8. Clio's empire: European historiography in Asia, the Americas and Africa; 9. Babel's tower: history in the twentieth century; Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"...this is a formidable work, at once open to the multiplicity of different traditions in historiography across the world and able to shape them into an impressive narrative without artificially doing so by emphasizing linkages and interactions. The illustrations are pertinent and the use of inset passages is helpful. This book will offer much to scholars and students alike." -History

"...a considerable, even astounding, achievement. It might yet become a defining moment in the field." - English Historical Review

"Highly recommended." -Choice

"it impresses with its well-thought-out structure, accessible language, concise presentation of complex issues, and, on top of that, some original interpretations, which make it interesting to professional historians, too". -The Historical Journal

"this is a valuable book, marking a worthwhile attempt to re-imagine and re-present the study of historiography. It deserves to be read not only by history students taking courses on historiography and historical methods but also by all practising historians interested in knowing more about their profession." -Journal of Global History

"the book’s broadness in coverage (which is shown not only in the text itself but also, very ingeniously and usefully, in the ‘text extracts’ and ‘subject boxes’), is not only unprecedented but, in my opinion, also difficult for anyone to surpass in the foreseeable future." -Journal of Global History

From the Publisher