History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction

by Mark T. Gilderhus

Book Overview

For undergraduate and graduate courses in Historiography, Philosophy of History, and Historical Methods. Also an ideal supplemental text for Western Civilization and Intellectual History courses. This... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0132286785
• ISBN13: 9780132286787
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Good book

I liked it because it is a concise, and clear interpretation of the historiography of history research and writing.

Evolution of Historical Thought

Mark Gilderhus' book is a concise look at the evolution of historical research and reporting in a well written, easy to read format which brings life to a less than exciting subject. I was assigned this book for a graduate course on historiography. History and Historians is a good companion to David Fischer's Historians' Fallacies, Davidson and Lytle's After the Fact and Richard Evans' In Defense of History.

Great overview

This short book does a good job of providing an overview of Western historical thinking from Herodotus and Thucydides to the modern period. The first chapter is a brief discussion of why we study history to begin with: curiosity, a need to bring order to the world, identify cause and effect, study the identity of a people, calculate the consequences of our actions, and to provide society's memory. Chapters two and three review the evolution of historical writings and their approach. Gilderhus begins with the ancient historians with a discussion of history in Greece and Rome and then reviews the influence of Christian thought; a paradigm against which history revealed the workings of God's plan. This perspective began to disappear as Western Christianity divided and historians of various religious persuasions wrote histories supporting their perspectives of the past. Enlightenment historians went on to reject a religious approach or even a factual approach wishing to rely on reason for their proofs while at the same time denigrating the past. This gave way to the influence of romanticism and nationalism in the 19th century which led to a more scientific approach to research and analysis. (p. 36) (In some ways this was a reaction to the emphasis on religion and God on man but it could also be a reaction to the renaissance emphasis on the greatness of classical civilizations.) Chapter 4 then reviews the philosophical aspects (speculative approaches) of history; Gilderhus says there are three schema: cyclical, providential, and progressive (p. 49) and discusses each in turn. Chapter 5 reviews the analytical philosophical approaches to history reflected in the positivist approach (general laws exist that govern the outcomes of human affairs, and idealist thought (which believed that because history was about man, who had free will, history was not repeatable). Chapter six is a simple overview of types of historical papers and research. The last chapter summarizes the state of historiography as it has evolved in the last century. Entire books have been written about each of the areas addressed in Gilderhus' book; the strength of this book is that it provides a simple easy-to-read overview of the whole field and the thinking behind history.

Concise and Informative

An excellent book introducing the origins of historical thought, the changing ideas and methods of history, and the challenges of history in the postmodern era. Also, the introduction provides a great discussion on the importance of studying history. A very understandable and readable book, only 135 pages. I recommend it highly for anyone interested in studying historical philosophy.