French Historical Method - Hardcover

Stoianovich, Traian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080140861X ISBN 13: 9780801408618

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1976

Synopsis

The type of history purveyed by the French periodical Annales has of late received considerable publicity in this country, although it began in 1929 and has been especially active since 1946. It is, according to this author, a third kind of history, those of Herodotus and Ranke being the first two. This book is a survey of the school's history and an analysis of its conceptions in the history of ideas. It is a flexible historiographical method aiming at total history, which means the utilization of every conceivable source, no matter how obscure or fragmentary. However, this approach has led to widespread debate on its usefulness, which Professor Stoianovich details here, as well as the dilemmas of its practitioners. Making available masses of historical material from a multiplicity of sources is in itself useful, but interpretation and judgement may be impaired by the very bulk.
This is a history of the Annales movement, and of the ideas of scholars belonging to it and inspired by it. We can, at the moment, argue as to the nature and extent of the change that the school has brought about in the discipline of history, but there seems no doubt that whatever the outcome may be it will be permanent. It, therefore, behoves all historians to be familiar with it, and Stoianovich's book will provide a useful, if somewhat biased and at times unconvincing, account and explanation of it.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080140861X
• ISBN 13: 9780801408618
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264