Product Description

For undergraduate and graduate courses in Historiography and Historical Method. Also an ideal supplemental text for Western Civilization and Intellectual History courses. This text is a concise, brief, and accessible introductory text presenting a thorough, balanced, and comprehensive overview of Western historical thinking from ancient times through the present. Reaching to readers of all levels, it covers major areas such as historiography, philosophy of history, and historical methodology, as well as material on contemporary "culture wars" and current debates on post modernism.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #677252 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From the Inside Flap

This book is a brief survey of Western historical thinking from ancient times to the present and also an introduction to some of the main issues and problems in historiography, philosophy of history, and historical method. It seeks to strike a balanced coverage and to make such concerns accessible to beginning students. Novice historians need to encounter questions of theory in order to grasp the nature of the discipline, but many probably lack the prerequisites to take on R. G. Collingwood straight. This small work may ease the transition.

I want to express my thanks to former colleagues who shared some of these interests, notably George M. Dennison of the University of Montana and Harry Rosenberg, Manfred J. Enssle, Thomas J. Knight, and James E. Hansen III of Colorado State University. D. Clayton Brown, my department chair at Texas Christian University, aided in the process of putting together this fifth edition by providing support and encouragement. I also wish to thank those who reviewed the manuscript for this edition: James P Krokar, DePaul University; Douglas W. Richmond and Jerome Rodnitzky, University of Texas at Arlington; and Maxine N. Lurie, Seton Hall University.

From the Back Cover

History and Historians

A Historiographical Introduction

Sixth Edition

 

Mark T. Gilderhus

 

 

This concise, best-selling volume presents a thorough and comprehensive overview of Western historical thinking from ancient times until the present. History and Historians surveys the main issues and problems in areas such as historiography, philosophy of history, and historical methodology. The book strives for a balanced coverage and attempts to make the subject accessible to readers at all levels. This revised Sixth Edition includes expanded coverage of postmodernism and the controversial questions it raised for historians in the United States and abroad. Also new is the placement of the reading, writing, and research chapter, which is now located at the end of the book for easier reference.

 

 

 

MAIN TOPICS

Aims and Purposes               

The Beginnings of Historical Consciousness            

Historical Consciousness in the Modern Age           

Philosophy of History: Speculative Approaches       

Philosophy of History: Analytical Approaches

Professional History in Recent Times    

Culture Wars, Postmodernism, and Other Issues      

Reading, Writing, and Research