The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources

In The Modern Historiography Reader, Adam Budd guides readers through European and North American developments in history-writing since the eighteenth century. Starting with Enlightenment history and moving through subjects such as moral history, national history, the emergence of history as a profession, and the impact of scientific principles on history, he then looks at some of the most important developments in twentieth-century historiography such as social history, traumatic memory, postcolonialism, gender history, postmodernism, and the history of material objects.

This is the only book that brings together historiographical writing from anthropology, literary theory, philosophy, psychology, and sociology – as well as history. Each of the thirteen thematic sections begins with a clear introduction that familiarizes readers with the topics and articles, setting them in their wider contexts. They explain what historiography is, how historians’ perspectives and sources determine the kinds of questions they ask, and discuss how social and ideological developments have shaped historical writing over the past three centuries.

With a glossary of critical terms and reading lists for each section, The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources is the perfect introduction to modern historiography.

Adam Budd is Director of the Historical Methods Programme in the Graduate School of History and Classics at the University of Edinburgh. He teaches historiography, bibliography, and eighteenth-century literary history, and has published on related topics. His study of medicine and literary culture in the Scottish Enlightenment is forthcoming.