History in Crisis? Recent Directions in Historiography / Edition 3

by Norman Wilson

Overview

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Explore the possibilities remaining for historical study.

This book explores the possibilities remaining for historical study in the face of the current trends, including postcolonialism, postmodernism, and deconstruction, among others.

This text is available in a variety of formats – digital and print. Pearson offers its titles on the devices students love through CourseSmart, Amazon, and more.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this text, readers will be able to:

• Understand how to examine trends in history.
• Understand how historical events influence today’s world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780205848959
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/05/2013
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

Read an Excerpt

I chose the title of this book while skimming my tattered copy of Fritz Stern's Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present. In the "Note to the Second Edition," Stern wrote "Is history in crisis again? The answer seems to be yes, and the crisis comes from within and without the historical discipline." It was unclear to me how historians could ever be freed from the crisis that Stern proclaimed. Stern's book, a reader of famous historians, differs radically from my efforts to present a variety of approaches without attempting to pinpoint a canon of works by famous historians. Instead of proclaiming masters who are then mastered, I sought to provide a toolbox or workshop so that readers could jump into current historical conversations. My goal was to accentuate the positive aspects of the varieties of history and thus the title History in Crisis? ends with a rhetorical question mark. I consciously rejected the critical tradition that grandly proclaims "crisis" so that the critic could explain the world.

This edition caused considerable contemplation about whether I should remain steadfast in my optimistic assessment. One of the most controversial positions in the first edition was my strong support for postcolonialism. Postcolonialists would tell you that I correctly recognized the merits of their pursuit of history, and critics of postcolonialism would argue that I was duped. Postcolonialism is now firmly seated in the academy, but the role of postcolonialism will remain undefined until more postcolonial histories become available.

The current historical conversation may not be as vibrant as the heated conversations over postmodernism and postcolonialism that took place in the late 1990s, but I do not believe that history has returned to a state of crisis. Crisis can be avoided as new perspectives are incorporated into the current historical conversation. Students are encouraged to read this brief overview of recent historical conversations and then to participate in the currently expanding historical conversation. Let the conversation continue!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What Was History?
Chapter 2: What Is History?
Chapter 3: Problems Of Historical Knowledge: Historicism, Presentism, and the Writing Of History
Chapter 4: Cross-Pollination

Chapter 5: Varieties Of History

Chapter 6: Historical Actors

Chapter 7: Post Modernist (Re)visions

Chapter 8: Post-Colonialism and the Scope of History
Chapter 9: The Future of History

Preface

I chose the title of this book while skimming my tattered copy of Fritz Stern's Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present. In the "Note to the Second Edition," Stern wrote "Is history in crisis again? The answer seems to be yes, and the crisis comes from within and without the historical discipline." It was unclear to me how historians could ever be freed from the crisis that Stern proclaimed. Stern's book, a reader of famous historians, differs radically from my efforts to present a variety of approaches without attempting to pinpoint a canon of works by famous historians. Instead of proclaiming masters who are then mastered, I sought to provide a toolbox or workshop so that readers could jump into current historical conversations. My goal was to accentuate the positive aspects of the varieties of history and thus the title History in Crisis? ends with a rhetorical question mark. I consciously rejected the critical tradition that grandly proclaims "crisis" so that the critic could explain the world.

This edition caused considerable contemplation about whether I should remain steadfast in my optimistic assessment. One of the most controversial positions in the first edition was my strong support for postcolonialism. Postcolonialists would tell you that I correctly recognized the merits of their pursuit of history, and critics of postcolonialism would argue that I was duped. Postcolonialism is now firmly seated in the academy, but the role of postcolonialism will remain undefined until more postcolonial histories become available.

The current historical conversation may not be as vibrant as the heated conversations over postmodernism and postcolonialism that took place in the late 1990s, but I do not believe that history has returned to a state of crisis. Crisis can be avoided as new perspectives are incorporated into the current historical conversation. Students are encouraged to read this brief overview of recent historical conversations and then to participate in the currently expanding historical conversation. Let the conversation continue!