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THE NEW NATURE OF HISTORY

Knowledge, Evidence, Language

Arthur Marwick, Open University

An updated version of the classic The Nature of History, The New Nature of History offers answers to questions essential to the student of history—What is history?; Why do History?; and How does one do history? Marwick has totally recast and rewritten the first version of the book, published in 1970, and given it a new coherence and a new dynamic thrust derived from the three words of the subtitle, "knowledge, evidence, language." Using these categories, he presents the first clear and comprehensive expression of the case against postmodernism in an undergraduate textbook. Arguing that the substance of history is evidence, not speculation, Marwick explicates the production of history as a body of knowledge. He outlines the actual activities of a working historian in discussions on the necessity of precise language, the analysis and interpretation of primary and secondary sources, and the vital distinctions between the "witting" and "unwitting" testimony of primary sources. This volume, written deftly in explicit and precise language and including a thorough index, is an ideal companion for students and writers of history at all levels.

Features

  • Specific examples of how to communicate historical knowledge clearly and unambiguously
  • Overview of historiography and historical epistemology, ancient Athens to the present
  • Detailed appendices, including guidance on planning and writing a history essay
  • Clearly placed within current debate regarding postmodernist and traditional approaches to history
  • Unambiguous and witty style
  • Comprehensive glossary from Annales to loc.cit to Whig
  • Extensive further reading on historiography and epistemology

About the Author

Arthur Marwick is Professor of History at the Open University and an internationally known writer of both history and historiography. His many books include British Society since 1945 (1996) and The Sixties (1998).

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction: The Battle of Basic Assumptions
...1... Stating my Position
...2. Eight Battlegrounds

2. History: Essential Knowledge about the Past
...1... The Past, History, and Sources
...2. The Necessity for History
...3. The auteur Theory of History and the Question of Subjectivity

3. How the Discipline of History Evolved: From Thucydides to Langlois to Seignobos
...1... From Ancient Athens to the Enlightenment
...2. Ranke: His Disciples and his Critics
...3. Positivism and Marxism
...4. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
...5. The End of the Century

4. How the Discipline of History Evolved: Through the Twentieth into the Twenty-First Century
...1... 'New' History
...2. The Rise of the Sub-Histories
...3. Latter-day Marxism and Past and Present
...4. Annales: The Second and Third Generations
...5. New Economic History, New Social History, History of Science, New Cultural History
...6. The Start of a New Century: Nothing Ruled Out

5. The Historian at Work: Forget 'Facts', Foreground Sources
...1... 'Facts'
...2. Primary and Secondary Sources
...3. The Immense Variety of Primary Sources
...4. Witting and Unwitting Testimony
...5. A Catechism for the Analysis, Evaluation, and Use of Primary Sources
...6. The Arts as Sources

6. The Historian at Work: The Communication of Historical Knowledge
...1... The Fundamentals of Good Writing
...2. Explanation, Periodisation, and Structure
...3. Comparative History
...4. Concepts and Clichés
...5. Quotations and Scholarly Apparatus
...6. Types of Historical Communication: From Scholarly Monograph to Museums, Films and Television

7. Theory, the Sciences, the Humanities
...1... History, Theory, the Sciences
...2. History, Sociobiology, Social Sciences and Humanities

8. Conclusion: Crisis, What Crisis?

Appendix A: An Example of Learning Outcomes for a History Degree
...1... Knowledge and Understanding
...2. Key Skills
...3. Cognitive Skills
...4. Professional and Practical Skills

Appendix B: Examples of Aims and Objectives
...1... Aims of the Open University Course Total War and Social Change: Europe 1914-1955
...2. Objectives for Unit 13, ‘Challenges to Central Government, 1660s to 1714', from the Open University Course Princes and Peoples: The British Isles and France c. 1630-1714.

Appendix C: Writing History
...1... Planning a History Essay
...2. Guidance on Writing an Essay
...3. A Brief Guide to Referencing for Historians (by Annika Mombauer)

Appendix D: Glossary

Further Reading

Index

2001, Paper, 334 Pages, ISBN 978-0-925065-61-2, Price $49.95