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Doing History (Doing... Series) by Mark Donnelly
Doing History bridges the gap between the way history is studied in school or as represented in the media and the way it is studied at university level.History as an academic discipline has dramatically changed in recent decades and has been enhanced by ideas from other disciplines, the influence of postmodernism and historians’ incorporation of their own reflections into their work. Doing History presents the ideas and debates that shape how we ‘do’ history today, covering arguments about the nature of historical knowledge and the function of historical writing, whether we can ever really know what happened in the past, what sources historians depend on, and the relative value of popular and academic histories. This revised edition includes new chapters on public history and activist histories. It looks at global representations of the past across the centuries, and provides up-to-date suggestions for further reading, presenting the reader with a thorough and current introduction to studying history at an academic level as well as a pathway to progress this study further.Clearly structured and accessibly written, it is an essential volume for all students embarking on the study of history.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
Paperback
First published July 25, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 4, 2015
A guide for the perplexed to history as she is practiced today. History is a bewilderment today, and I found them clearly-spoken, congenial guides.
Their own position (they're not pushing a position, but neither do they believe in hiding that they have one) I’d describe as sensible postmodernist – subjective of me, but they accept cheerfully the subjectivity of history, as well as its plurality, and I feel liberated to respond in kind. They are open-minded, which you want in an introduction, and never polemical: in here history seems bubbling with possibilities, not fraught and contested. For myself, valuable was their attention to the experimental territory where historiography and fiction meet.
They make good their claim to be global, beyond the cover. They say, and I easily believe, that most such introductions pretend history has been written in Europe and America; when they survey past historical methods or use an example, it’s as likely to be Ottoman or Chinese. I think Gibbon is only mentioned because he has a similar approach to a near-contemporary Ottoman historian whom they cover in detail.
Its suggestions for reading, annotated so you know where you’re going, have led me on to stuff, more often than these suggestion lists usually seem to. After being bombarded with (battling and embattled) writings on historiography in my What is History? unit, I took to these guys at once and chose them for my orientation.
Their own position (they're not pushing a position, but neither do they believe in hiding that they have one) I’d describe as sensible postmodernist – subjective of me, but they accept cheerfully the subjectivity of history, as well as its plurality, and I feel liberated to respond in kind. They are open-minded, which you want in an introduction, and never polemical: in here history seems bubbling with possibilities, not fraught and contested. For myself, valuable was their attention to the experimental territory where historiography and fiction meet.
They make good their claim to be global, beyond the cover. They say, and I easily believe, that most such introductions pretend history has been written in Europe and America; when they survey past historical methods or use an example, it’s as likely to be Ottoman or Chinese. I think Gibbon is only mentioned because he has a similar approach to a near-contemporary Ottoman historian whom they cover in detail.
Its suggestions for reading, annotated so you know where you’re going, have led me on to stuff, more often than these suggestion lists usually seem to. After being bombarded with (battling and embattled) writings on historiography in my What is History? unit, I took to these guys at once and chose them for my orientation.
August 12, 2023
Lots of information but hidden amid a rather boring and convoluted method of narration. Three stars given for the quality of the information, not the structure of or how enjoyable the book was to read.
Included information regarding history from many non euro-centric origins which is both interesting and important.
However; the amount of feminist history was far less and Queer history had, in total, one page out of approx 250 dedicated to it. For a revised edition (original published in 2011 and revised version published in 2021) I hoped for better.
Included information regarding history from many non euro-centric origins which is both interesting and important.
However; the amount of feminist history was far less and Queer history had, in total, one page out of approx 250 dedicated to it. For a revised edition (original published in 2011 and revised version published in 2021) I hoped for better.
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October 7, 2025Read for MA
January 26, 2012
This book is good for the Routledge series. Footnotes and further readings are actually included throughout the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews