On History

The theory and practice of history and its relevance to the modern world, by Britains greatest radical historian.

Bringing together in one volume the key writings of many of the major historians from the last few decades, Historians on History provides an overview of the evolving nature of historical enquiry, illuminating the political, social and personal assumptions that have governed and sustained historical theory and practice. John Tosh’s Reader begins with a substantial introductory survey charting the course of historiographical developments since the second half of the nineteenth century. He explores both the academic mainstream and more radical voices within the discipline. The text is composed of readings by historians such as Braudel, Carr, Elton, Guha, Hobsbawm, Scott and Jordanova. This third edition has been brought up to date by taking the 1960s as its starting point. It now includes more recent topics like public history, microhistory and global history, in addition to established fields like Marxist history, gender history and postcolonialism. Historians on History is essential reading for all students of historiography and historical theory.

In Part 1 of this book, originally published in 1980, the focus is on certain claims of R. G. Collingwood regarding the nature of historical understanding, of Charles Beard about the possibility of an objective reconstruction of the past, and of J. W. N. Watkins concerning the reducibility of what historians say about social events and processes to what could have been said about relevant human individuals. Part 2 analyses the way certain historians have distinguished between causes and other explanatory conditions in disputing A. J. P. Taylor’s account of the origins of the Second World War. Part 3 discusses the attempt of Oswald Spengler in Decline of the West to determine the meaning or significance of the historical process as a whole, in the criticism of which many themes of the earlier chapters recur.

The War on Our History Confederate memorials toppled . . . Columbus statues attacked with red paint. They started with slave-owning Confederate generals, but they’re not stopping there. The vandals are only pretending to care about the character of particular American heroes. In reality, they hate what those heroes represent: the truths asserted in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Constitution. And they are bent on taking America down and replacing our free society with a socialist utopia. All that stands in their way is Americans’ reverence for our history of freedom. Which is why that history simply has to go. Now, Jarrett Stepman, editor at The Daily Signal and host of Right Side of History, exposes the true aims of the war on our history: The war on America: World history is full of conquests and suffering indigenous peoples. Why target Christopher Columbus? What they really want to tear down is America. The war on Thanksgiving: World history is full of colonists. Why target the Pilgrims? What they really want to tear down is American freedom and prosperity. The war on the Founding: World history is full of slavery. Why target Thomas Jefferson? What they really want to tear down are the rights endowed by our Creator. The war on the common man: World history is full of victorious generals and populist politicians. Why target Andrew Jackson? What they really want to tear down is democracy. The war on the South: World history is full of civil strife. Why target Confederate heroes like Robert E. Lee? What they really want to tear down is respect for America’s past and the reconciliation that renewed our Union. The war on patriotism: World history is full of national pride. Why target Teddy Roosevelt? What they really want to tear down is the idea of American greatness. The war on the American century: World history is full of bloody wars. What they really want to tear down is America’s defeat of totalitarianism. If America is to survive this assault, we must rally to the defense of our illustrious history. The War on History is the battle plan.

'Modisane's book, read today by all South Africans, will expose our raw pasts, private and public in their nature, which are still present in many forms as unacknowledged antecedents ... Engrossed and fascinated, I turned the pages of Blame Me on History as fast as I could.' – Njabulo S Ndebele Feeling an exile in the country of his birth, the talented journalist and leading black intellectual Bloke Modisane left South Africa in 1959. It was shortly after the apartheid government had bulldozed Sophiatown, the township of his childhood. His biting indictment of apartheid, Blame Me on History, was published in 1963 – and banned shortly afterwards. Modisane offers a harrowing account of the degradation and oppression faced daily by black South Africans. His penetrating observations and insightful commentary paint a vivid picture of what it meant to be black in apartheid South Africa. At the same time, his evocative writing transports the reader back to a time when Sophiatown still teemed with life. This 60th-anniversary edition of Modisane's autobiography serves as an example of passionate resistance to the scourge of racial discrimination in our country, and is a reminder not to forget our recent past.

This book deals with theoretical problems that arise at points of contact between the concerns of philosophers and historians about the practice of historiography. In bringing together these critical studies on diverse but related themes, the book offers insight into the aims and methods of those working in theory of historiography in recent years, especially in English-speaking countries.

20 enchanting art projects and other creative activities that illuminate and enrich your study of the Middle Ages.