Historiography: An Introductory Guide

by Cheng, Eileen Ka-may

• ISBN13: 9781441177674
• ISBN10: 1441177671
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

What is historiography?" asked the American historian Carl Becker in 1938 and professional historians continue to argue over the meaning of the term. This book challenges the view of historiography as an esoteric subject by presenting an accessible and concise overview of the history of historical writing from the Renaissance to the present, focusing primarily on the US and Europe. Historiography plays an integral role in aiding undergraduate students to better understand the nature and purpose of historical analysis more generally by examining the many conflicting ways that historians have defined and approached history. By demonstrating how these historians have differed in both their interpretations of specific historical events and their definitions of history itself, this book conveys to students the interpretive character of history as a discipline and the way that the historian's context and subjective perspective influence his or her understanding of the past.

Author Biography

Eileen Ka-May Cheng is Associate Professor of History at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth: Nationalism and Impartiality in American Historical Writing, 1784-1860 (2008).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Introduction	p. 1
Art and Science in Renaissance and Early Modern Historical Writing	p. 4
Enlightenment and Philosophical History	p. 29
Romantic and Critical History	p. 61
Scientific History and Its Challengers	p. 91
Social History, Fragmentation, and the Revival of Narrative	p. 112
History and Historiography in Global Perspective	p. 133
Notes	p. 147
Appendix - American and European Historians from the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century	p. 174
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 204
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 226
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