9780131835528

This book explores the possibilities remaining for historical study in the face of the current trends, including postcolonialism, postmodernism, and deconstruction, among others.The volume examines key topics such as what was history and what is history? The problems of historical knowledge: historicism, presentism, and the writing of history, cross-pollination, varieties of history, historical actors, post modernist (re)visions, post-colonialism and the scope of history, as well as the future of history.For those interested in the study of history as well as those interested in the influence of recent political trends.

PREFACE

ix

1 WHAT WAS HISTORY?

1

(16)

1.1 Historical Time and Teleology

6

(3)

1.2 A Brief History of History

9

(5)

1.3 Nineteenth-Century Historicism

14

(2)

Notes

16

(1)

2 WHAT IS HISTORY?

17

(11)

2.1 Historical Focal Points (Diachronic Versus Synchronic History)

19

(1)

2.2 History as a Form of Knowledge (Art or Science?)

20

(4)

2.3 Historical Causation

24

(2)

2.4 The Study of History as an Autonomous Discipline

26

(1)

Notes

27

(1)

3 PROBLEMS OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE: HISTORICISM, PRESENTISM, AND THE WRITING OF HISTORY

28

(19)

3.1 Experiencing and Remembering the Past

30

(4)

3.2 The Indeterminancy of the Past

34

(3)

3.3 Reworking the Past

37

(8)

Notes

45

(2)

4 CROSS-POLLINATION

47

(23)

4.1 Cliometrics: Quantification and History

49

(4)

4.2 Economics and History

53

(6)

4.3 Sociology and History

59

(5)

4.4 Anthropology and History

64

(4)

Notes

68

(2)

5 VARIETIES OF HISTORY

70

(35)

5.1 Social History

71

(16)

5.1.1 Big History: Annales

71

(6)

5.1.2 Little History: History from the Bottom

77

(5)

5.1.3 Macrohistory

82

(3)

5.1.4 Microhistory

85

(2)

5.2 Intellectual History

87

(3)

5.2.1 History of Ideas

87

(2)

5.2.2 The Contextualists

89

(1)

5.2.3 New Intellectual History

90

(1)

5.3 Cultural History

90

(4)

5.3.1 Materialists and Nonmaterialists

91

(1)

5.3.2 Subjects of Cultural History

92

(2)

5.4 Psychohistory and Its Discontents

94

(5)

5.5 Comparative History

99

(3)

Notes

102

(3)

6 HISTORICAL ACTORS

105

(21)

6.1 Rational Actors

106

(4)

6.2 Class

110

(4)

6.3 Gender

114

(5)

6.4 Structures of Perception

119

(5)

Notes

124

(2)

7 POSTMODERNIST (RE)VISIONS

126

(12)

7.1 History and/as Language

127

(4)

7.1.1 Postmodernism

127

(2)

7.1.2 Deconstruction

129

(2)

7.2 Sociohistorical Pursuit and the Rise of the New Historicism

131

(5)

Notes

136

(2)

8 POST COLONIALISM AND THE SCOPE OF HISTORY

138

(17)

8.1 History of the Term Postcolonialism

140

(3)

8.2 Globalization and Wallerstein's World-System Model

143

(1)

8.3 Orientalism

144

(2)

8.4 The Language of Self/Other and In-Between Spaces

146

(3)

8.4.1 Hybridity

146

(1)

8.4.2 Subaltern Studies and Postmodernism

147

(2)

8.5 Postcolonialism and the Crisis of Historical Representation

149

(2)

8.6 The Provincialization of Europe?

151

(2)

Notes

153

(2)

9 THE FUTURE OF HISTORY

155

(9)

9.1 History at Its Best?

156

(2)

9.2 Historians and their Education

158

(1)

9.3 Standards and Professional Conduct

159

(2)

9.4 Conclusion

161

(2)

Notes

163

(1)

INDEX

164

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

I chose the title of this book while skimming my tattered copy of Fritz Stern'sVarieties 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 titleHistory 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!

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

History in Crisis? Recent Directions in Historiography

History in Crisis? Recent Directions in Historiography

0131835521

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Excerpts