Making History: An Introduction to the Practices of History

Description

Making History is a comprehensive textbook which explores the practice of history, historical tradition and the theories which surround it. Discussing the development and growth of history as a discipline and of the profession of the historian, the book encompasses a huge diversity of influences, and is organised around the following themes: * The Professionalisation of History : A study of the institutionalisation and organisation of history, including methodology, 'scientific' history and the problem of objectivity, and the primacy of political history. * Challenges to the Statist Paradigm: An assessment of the most significant movements in historical scholarship in the last century, including the Annales School, and the development of social and economic history. * Interdisciplinarity: An enquiry into the increasingly interdisciplinary trends in scholarship, revealing the interconnections between history, archaeology, psychoanalysis, sociology, anthropology, and literature; scholars from non-historical disciplines have contributed to provide a unique approach to a controversial debate. * Social Movements and Theory into History: An investigation into the penetration of theory into historical practice, examining the social movements and ideologies that propelled the change, including Marxism, post-modernism and gender history. * Beyond the Academy: An exploration of the changes in historical practice with reference to film, 'amateur' history, heritage and popular culture. With a conclusion that draws these issues together in an assessment of the relationship between history, power and politics, Making History offers a clear and indispensable guide to the subject for students of historiography, and theory and method in history.

Peter Lambert is Lecturer in History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and has published on historiography. Phillipp Schofield is Lecturer in History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and the author of Peasant and Community in Medieval England, 1200-1500.

'The book is well written with helpful notes throughout ... [it] should be read as it is important to understand the evolution of historiography.' - S.A.T.H History Teaching Review Yearbook "They provide a challenging antidote to the nihilism of certain postmodernists and to the blinkered hostility to new ideas that some parts of the historical profession demonstrate" Christopher Parker, Edge Hill University College