History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction (5th Edition) - Softcover

Mark T. Gilderhus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130448249 ISBN 13: 9780130448248

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2002

Synopsis

As a survey of historical thinking in the West from ancient times to the present, this accessible book focuses on historiography, philosophy of history, and historical methodology, introducing the main issues with thorough and balanced discussions. Chapter topics cover Aims and Purposes, The Beginnings of Historical Consciousness, Historical Consciousness in the Modern Age, Speculative and analytical Approaches to the Philosophy of History, Professional History in Recent Times, and Culture Wars and Postmodernism. For novice historians.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This concise volume presents a thorough and comprehensive overview of Western historical thinking from ancient times until the present. History and Historians surveys the main issues and problems in areas such as historiography, philosophy of history, and historical methodology. The book strives for a balanced coverage and attempts to make the subject accessible to readers at all levels. This Fifth Edition, revised to incorporate recent developments, includes new examples to illustrate main themes as well as a postscript discussing aspects of contemporary "culture wars" in the United States and postmodernism.

MAIN TOPICS

• Aims and Purposes
• The Beginnings of Historical Consciousness
• Historical Consciousness in the Modern Age
• Philosophy of History: Speculative Approaches
• Philosophy of History: Analytical Approaches
• Reading, Writing, and Research
• Professional History in Recent Times
• Postscript: Culture Wars and Postmodernism

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

This book is a brief survey of Western historical thinking from ancient times to the present and also an introduction to some of the main issues and problems in historiography, philosophy of history, and historical method. It seeks to strike a balanced coverage and to make such concerns accessible to beginning students. Novice historians need to encounter questions of theory in order to grasp the nature of the discipline, but many probably lack the prerequisites to take on R. G. Collingwood straight. This small work may ease the transition.

I want to express my thanks to former colleagues who shared some of these interests, notably George M. Dennison of the University of Montana and Harry Rosenberg, Manfred J. Enssle, Thomas J. Knight, and James E. Hansen III of Colorado State University. D. Clayton Brown, my department chair at Texas Christian University, aided in the process of putting together this fifth edition by providing support and encouragement. I also wish to thank those who reviewed the manuscript for this edition: James P Krokar, DePaul University; Douglas W. Richmond and Jerome Rodnitzky, University of Texas at Arlington; and Maxine N. Lurie, Seton Hall University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130448249
• ISBN 13: 9780130448248
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 150