Description
What is the point of history? Why has the study of the past been so important for so long? Why History? A History contemplates two and a half thousand years of historianship to establish how very different thinkers in diverse contexts have conceived their activities, and to illustrate the purposes that their historical investigations have served. Whether considering Herodotus, medieval religious exegesis, or twentieth-century cultural history, at the core of this work is the way that the present has been conceived to relate to the past. Alongside many changes in technique and philosophy, Donald Bloxham's book reveals striking long-term continuities in justifications for the discipline.
About the Author
Donald Bloxham has taught at Edinburgh University since 2001. He was appointed Professor of Modern History in 2007 and given the established Richard Pares Chair of History in 2011. Beyond his work on the history and philosophy of the discipline of history, he is a specialist in the study of genocide and the punishment of perpetrators of genocide. His book, The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford, 2005), won the Raphael Lemkin Prize for genocide scholarship. He has also been a recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize and is currently on a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.
Reviews
On the whole, Why History? is a marvel of both clarity and erudition...the footnotes and bibliography...are treasure troves and I found myself repeatedly stopping to take note of an essay or monograph I'd not run across. * Professor Daniel Woolf, Reviews in History *
Bloxham's study is outstanding in its grasp of two and a half Millennia of historiography, and he traces his subject through time and space seemingly effortlessly ... Why History? is a remarkable contribution to the History of historical writing that transcends traditional accounts * Konrad Hauber, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *
Book Information
ISBN 9780192855664
Author Donald Bloxham
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 604g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 154mm * 22mm
About the Author
Donald Bloxham has taught at Edinburgh University since 2001. He was appointed Professor of Modern History in 2007 and given the established Richard Pares Chair of History in 2011. Beyond his work on the history and philosophy of the discipline of history, he is a specialist in the study of genocide and the punishment of perpetrators of genocide. His book, The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford, 2005), won the Raphael Lemkin Prize for genocide scholarship. He has also been a recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize and is currently on a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.
Reviews
On the whole, Why History? is a marvel of both clarity and erudition...the footnotes and bibliography...are treasure troves and I found myself repeatedly stopping to take note of an essay or monograph I'd not run across. * Professor Daniel Woolf, Reviews in History *
Bloxham's study is outstanding in its grasp of two and a half Millennia of historiography, and he traces his subject through time and space seemingly effortlessly ... Why History? is a remarkable contribution to the History of historical writing that transcends traditional accounts * Konrad Hauber, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *
Book Information
ISBN 9780192855664
Author Donald Bloxham
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 604g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 154mm * 22mm
