Expert: Irulan Serena - 5/2/2004

Question
Why has there been such a reluctance to accept:
"One does not confuse the records and memories of events with the events themselves"
outside the discipline and world of the critical historian?

Can you recommend "the books" about critical history that an amateur historian should have on their shelf?

 Charlie Turek  chalesturek@comcast.net

Answer
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. Though you somewhat missed my point. Outside the world of academia
there seems to be a view from the layman that anything written about, or from the past, must have some reliability. Especially if this "history" satisfies the "need" of the reader. Why is there such a gap between the layman and the critical scholar? Is it the lack of curiousity, or is it the reluctance to truly investigate and challenge one's own convictions? Why is "historical" propaganda so easily accepted? It gives you pleasure?
         Charlie Turek

http://www.allexperts.com/answerq.asp?QuestionID=3530564&ExpertID=31976

Thanks for generously volunteering your time to help others.
Hello Charlie Turek,

The validity of a  historical event can be affected by the historian's  'memories'. In its etymology the term includes personal experience which could be based on personal views, opinions, emotional reactions and prejudices due to a variety of reasons.  Because of this possibility, the historical event being written  may lack the objectivity needed which will affect its validity and importance as a primary or secondary or tertiary source.

The academic as well as the critical historian excludes personal views of any kind and focuses on the even itself and the retelling of the events so that its value is neither damaged nor compromised.


Historiography is based on the principles, theories, or methodology of scholarly historical research and presentation and it deals with the writing of history based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and selection of authentic source materials and composition of these materials into a narrative subject to scholarly methods of criticism.  There is no room for ‘memories' in the science of recording history.As you know history is an extremely broad term which could cover the path of European history beginning with its origins in Mesopotamia, following the developments of Greek and Roman society, continuing through the medieval period and ending with the Renaissance (approximately 3000 BCE-1500 CE). Its main purpose will be to identify the general patterns of politics, economics, religion, society, and culture that characterized Europe during these centuries. We will also explore primary sources to learn the techniques of historians and to give us glimpses in the lives of the inhabitants of the past.   You did not specify what era geographical location or give any specific parameters, so the bibliography I am sending you is rather general in its inclusion of what books to have.  It is also very extensive since I do not know what, exactly, it is that you want.  From this collection it is up to you to chose which you think will be beneficial to you.  
General Historiography
Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt and Margaret Jacob, Telling the Truth About History. Norton, 1994.

Claude Alvares, Decolonizing History: Technology and Culture in India, China and the West, 1492 to the Present Day. The Other India Press, 1991.

Diane Barthel, Historical Preservation; Collective Memory and Historical Identity. Rutgers University Press, 1996.

Michael Bentley, Modern Historiography; An Introduction. Routledge, 1999.

Michael Bentley (ed.) Companion to Historiography. Routledge, 1997.

Jeremy Black, Maps and History; Constructing Images of the Past. Yale University Press, 1997.

Fernand Braudel, On History. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Martin Bunzl, Real History; Reflections on Historical Practice. Routledge, 1997.

Philippe Carrard, Poetics of the New History: French Historiographical Discourse From Braudel to Chartier. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

Noam Chomsky, Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship. Black & Red, 1997.

G. Kitson Clark, The Critical Historian. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985.

Sande Cohen, Passive Nihilism: Cultural Historiography and the Rhetoric of Scholarship. Saint Martin's Press, 1998.

R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History. Oxford University Press, 1956.

Philip D. Curtin, Cross-Cultural Trade in World History. Cambridge University Press, 1984.

William H. Dray, On History and Philosophers of History. Brill Academic Publishers, 1989.

Prasenjit Duara, Rescuing History From the Nation. University of Chicago Press.

Florike Egmond, The Mammoth and the Mouse; Microhistory and Morphology. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Ainslie T. Embree and Carol Gluck (eds.) Asia in Western and World History. M.E. Sharpe, 1997.

James B. Gardner (ed.) Public History; Essays from the Field. Melbourne: Krieger Publishing Co., 1999.

Gordon Graham, The Shape of the Past; A Philosophical Approach to History. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Thomas L. Haskell, Objectivity Is Not Neutrality; Explanatory Schemes in History. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Eric Hobsbawm, On History. The New Press, 1997.

Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Rethinking World History; Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History. Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Lynn Hunt (ed.) The New Cultural History. University of California Press, 1989.

Georg G. Iggers, Historiography in the Twentieth Century; From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge. University Press of New England, 1997.

Keith Jenkins, The Postmodern History Reader. Routledge, 1997.

Harvey J. Kaye, "Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?" and Other Questions. St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Katherine Kearns, Psychoanalysis, Historiography, and Feminist Theory; The Search for Critical Method. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

David Levin, History As Romantic Art. AMS Press.

James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Simon & Schuster, 1995.

C. Behan McCullagh, The Truth of History. Routledge, 1997.

Martin V. Melosi (ed.) Public History and the Environment. Melbourne: Krieger Publishing Co., 1999.

Greil Marcus, Dustbin of History. Harvard University Press, 1997.

Arnaldo Momigliano, Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography. University of California Press, 1992.

Alun Munslow, Deconstructing History. Routledge, 1997.

Christopher Norris, What's Wrong With Postmodernism? Critical Theory and the Ends of Philosophy. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.

Peter Novick, That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession. Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Jan Patocka, Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History. Open Court, 1996.

Philip Pomper, World History; Ideologies, Structures and Identities. Blackwell, 1998.

Mark Poster, Cultural History and Postmodernity; Disciplinary Readings and Challenges. Columbia University Press, 1997.

Michael S. Roth, The Ironist's Cage: Memory, Trauma, and the Construction of History. Columbia University Press, 1995.

A.L. Rowse, The Use of History. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985.

Edward W. Said, Orientalism. Vintage, 1978.

Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social History. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Bonnie G. Smith, The Gender of History; Men, Women, and Historical Practice. Harvard University Press, 1998.

Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determination. MIT Press, 1994.

Beverley Southgate, History: What and Why? Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Perspectives. Routledge, 1996.

Michael Stanford, An Introduction to the Philosophy of History. Blackwell Publishers, 1997.

Fritz Stern (ed.) The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present. Vintage, 1973.

John Tosh, The Pursuit of History; Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History. Longman, 1991.

Kathleen J. Turner, Doing Rhetorical History; Concepts and Cases. University of Alabama Press, 1998.

Hayden White, The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.

Howard Zinn, Failure to Quit; Reflections of an Optimistic Historian. Common Courage Press, 1993.