Clio Confused: Troubling Aspects of Historical Study from the Perspective of U.S. History

by David Russo

Overview

Nations and other political entities are inadequate bases for studying the human past, because the other aspects of human life are not organized along the same lines as these political entities. All communities, including local ones, are amoeba-like, changing size and shape as we observe and probe them. Historians can improve the way they generalize about the past by tailoring their conclusions to the actual evidence they use. By using an array of historical questions of interest to scholars in all of the humanistically oriented disciplines, historians can offer more profound interpretations of their subjects, rather than confining themselves to an explanation of how and why human life evolves or persists through time and space. By doing so, historians can also significantly extend their influence among the general population.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313296826
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/10/1995
Series:	Contributions in American History , #163
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

DAVID J. RUSSO is a Professor of U.S. History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the author of Families and Communities: A New View of American History (1974) and Keepers of Our Past: Local Historical Writing in the United States (Greenwood Press, 1988).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Common Confusions From An Historical Perspective
Identities
Inconsistencies
Traditions
Historians and Nations
The True Nature of Nations and Nationalism
The Limitation of National Histories as Fields of Study
Historians and Local Communities
"Pre-Historical" Definitions of Local Communities
An Historical Definition of Local Communities
Current Definitions of "Community"
Historians and Generalizations
Problems in Historical Synthesizing
False Generalizations in Historical Writing
Historians and Communication
History as Writing
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A series of essays on academic historical study, in sections on common confusions from a historical perspective and the relationship between historians and nations, local communities, and communication. Examines inconsistent views about the role of the government in economy, religion, and equality, and discusses the importance of local communities to historians. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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