Recent Themes in Historical Thinking: Historians in Conversation

by Donald A. Yerxa

Overview

A compendium of keen insights into new approaches and methods for historical inquiry

Described as "the New York Review of Books for history," Historically Speaking has emerged as one of the most distinctive historical publications in recent years, actively seeking out contributions from a pantheon of leading voices in historical discourse from both inside and outside academia. Recent Themes in Historical Thinking represents some of the best writing on historiography to appear in the past five years.

The prominent historians featured in this collection of essays and interviews drawn from Historically Speaking comment on such wide-ranging topics as the impact of postmodernism on the field, the relationship between professional and popular history, the importance of historical consciousness, and the limitations of the field in its current state. A special feature of this volume is a lively forum on counterfactuals, the might-have-beens of history. The volume in general and the forum in particular illustrate the value of ongoing conversation between historians in advancing historical investigation and enriching debate and discussion within and beyond the academic setting.

Designed as an accessible point of entry for students and interested general readers, Recent Themes in Historical Thinking opens new vistas for understanding the methods of historiography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570037412
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/03/2008
Series:	Historians in Conversation
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Donald A. Yerxa is assistant director of the Historical Society and editor of Historically Speaking. A professor of history at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, Yerxa is the author of The Burning of Falmouth, 1775 and Admirals and Empire: The United States Navy and the Caribbean, 1898–1945 and coauthor of Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface     vii
Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction: Historical Inquiry and Thinking Today   Donald A. Yerxa     1
The State of Historical Inquiry
Are We Asking Too Much of History?   Allan Megill     9
What Is History Now? An Interview with David Cannadine   Donald A. Yerxa     17
On the Current State of History: An Interview with Richard J. Evans   Donald A. Yerxa     23
Collective Memory, History Education, and Historical Consciousness   Peter Seixas     28
Historical Thinking Is Unnatural-and Immensely Important: An Interview with Sam Wineburg   Joseph S. Lucas     35
Popular and Professional History   John Lukacs     44
The Public Use of History   Jeremy Black     51
Postmodernism: Three Views
Postmodernism and the Truth of History   C. Behan McCullagh     57
Postmodernism and Historical Inquiry: Spoiled for Choice?   Beverley Southgate     63
Postmodernism and Historiography   Willie Thompson     69
Assessing Counterfactuals
Telling It Like It Wasn't   Richard J. Evans     77
Is the Dark Light Enough?   Edward Ingram     85
Good History NeedsCounterfactuals   Richard Ned Lebow     91
Counterfactuals and the Historical Imagination   William H. McNeill     98
The New Counterfactualists   Allan Megill     101
Alternate History and Memory   Gavriel Rosenfeld     107
Counterfactualism Defended   Jeremy Black     111
When Do Counterfactuals Work?   Robert Cowley     115
Response   Richard J. Evans     120
Further Readings     131
Contributors     135
Index     137