In Defence of History
- ISBN-10
- 1912128772
- ISBN-13
- 9781912128778
- Series
- In Defence of History
- Pages
- 110
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2017-07-15
- Publisher
- Macat Library
- Authors
- Tom Stammers, Nicholas Piercey
Description
Postmodernist thinkers consider history to be not so very far removed from fiction, something based on a historian's own interpretation of the past. Sir Richard Evans, however, insists that we can trust history and that it is possible to be objective about what happened in the past and what caused it to happen because historians are constrained and enabled by the surviving evidence. Evans shows how an understanding of social issues and rigorous scientific research give history shape, and why history is not simply what we make of it. He argues that this postmodernist view is contradictory and can lead to dangerous problems if we accept all historical interpretations as equally valid. Book jacket.
