In Defence of History“A lucid, muscular, and often sly reflection” on the worth and purpose of historical scholarship by the award-winning author of The Third Reich Trilogy (Kirkus). In this volume, the renowned historian Richard J. Evans offers a fervent and deeply insightful defense of his craft and its importance to civilization. At a time when fact and historical truth are under unprecedented assault, Evans shows us why history is necessary. Taking us into the historians’ workshop, he offers a firsthand look at how good history gets written. In staunch opposition to the wilder claims of postmodern historians, Evans thoroughly dismantles the notion that a realistic grasp of history is impossible to attain. He then goes on to explain the deadly political dangers of losing a historical perspective on the way we live our lives. In the tradition of E.H. Carr’s What Is History? and G.R. Elton’s The Practice of History, Evans’ In Defense of History delivers “a model of lucid and intelligent historiographical analysis” (The Guardian, UK). |
From inside the book
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... follow their own precepts did not stop historians before the First World War from proclaiming the virtues of the scientific approach : on the contrary , it merely spurred them to greater efforts . In 1903 , in a famous inaugural lecture ...
... follow their own precepts did not stop historians before the First World War from proclaiming the virtues of the scientific approach : on the contrary , it merely spurred them to greater efforts . In 1903 , in a famous inaugural lecture ...
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... follow.15 II One member of the audience at that lecture in Cambridge in 1903 was the twenty - six - year - old George Macaulay Trevelyan , who was to be appointed to the Regius Chair when Bury died in 1927. Trevelyan took the lecture as ...
... follow.15 II One member of the audience at that lecture in Cambridge in 1903 was the twenty - six - year - old George Macaulay Trevelyan , who was to be appointed to the Regius Chair when Bury died in 1927. Trevelyan took the lecture as ...
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... follows upon wave , only one great fact with respect to which , since it is unique , there can be no generalizations , only one safe rule for the historian : that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the ...
... follows upon wave , only one great fact with respect to which , since it is unique , there can be no generalizations , only one safe rule for the historian : that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the ...
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... follow it in practice, the principle Knowles laid down, of avoiding explicit moral judgments on the past and the people who lived in it, is surely a good one for the historian to follow. A historian who uses terms like 'wicked' or 'evil ...
... follow it in practice, the principle Knowles laid down, of avoiding explicit moral judgments on the past and the people who lived in it, is surely a good one for the historian to follow. A historian who uses terms like 'wicked' or 'evil ...
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... follow . Original history is the reflection of an original mind , and there is no prescription which will produce that.32 There was something very English , perhaps , in the view of this particular Oxford don that the best way to become ...
... follow . Original history is the reflection of an original mind , and there is no prescription which will produce that.32 There was something very English , perhaps , in the view of this particular Oxford don that the best way to become ...
Contents
22 | |
Society and the Individual | |
Objectivity and its Limits | |
Afterword | |
Further Reading | |
Index | |
About the Author | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abraham academic American Historical Review Appleby approach argued argument Arthur Marwick belief Britain British Cambridge Carr's century claim concept contemporary critics critique cultural David debate Defence of History Derrida discipline discourse documents E. H. Carr E. P. Thompson Easthope economic history England Evans evidence example fact Frank Ankersmit French G. M. Trevelyan Geoffrey Elton German Hayden White historians historical knowledge historical profession historical scholarship historical writing Historiography History and Post-Modernism History London Holocaust Holocaust denial Hugh Trevor-Roper Hunt and Jacob ibid ideas ideology Intellectual History Intelligent Person's Guide interpretation J. H. Hexter Keith Jenkins kind LaCapra language Lawrence Stone linguistic turn literary Marxist meaning modern moral Namier narrative Noble Dream Novick objectivity Oxford past Patrick Joyce political postmodernism postmodernist present Purkiss quoted reality Revolution scientific sense Social History social sciences society sources thought Trevelyan Vincent written Zeldin