The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources / Edition 1

by Adam Budd

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415458863
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/14/2008
Series:	Routledge Readers in History
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Historian’s Task 2. Giambattista Vico and the Meaning of Historical Origins 3. Historical Writing and Moral Psychology 4. The Task of Romantic History 5. Historicism, the Historian’s Craft, and the New Century 6. The Approach of Social Science 7. Historical Time and Historical Structures 8. Marxism and "History from Below' 9. History from Within: Trauma and Memory 10. Postmodernism: 'The Linguistic Turn' 11. Sexual Identity 12. Anthropological Description and Objects of History 13. The Social History of Material Objects

Editorial Reviews

'An excellent potential teaching tool as well as a book from which those working in various branches of historiography will profit.' – Daniel Woolf, University of Alberta, General Editor, The Oxford History of Historical Writing

'An expert and well-conceived collection, presenting the major issues in historiography over the past three centuries ... The work as a whole will become the standard reader for surveying historical theory and practice in the West. It is simply excellent.' – Bonnie Smith, Rutgers University, USA

From the Publisher