Historiography: An Introductory Guide

by Eileen Ka-may Cheng

“What is historiography?” asked the American historian Carl Becker in 1938 and professional historians continue to argue over the meaning of the term. This book challenges the view of historiography as an esoteric subject by presenting an accessible and concise overview of the history of historical writing from the Renaissance to the present, focusing primarily on the US and Europe. Historiography plays an integral role in aiding undergraduate students to better understand the nature and purpose of historical analysis more generally by examining the many conflicting ways that historians have defined and approached history. By demonstrating how these historians have differed in both their interpretations of specific historical events and their definitions of history itself, this book conveys to students the interpretive character of history as a discipline and the way that the historian’s context and subjective perspective influence his or her understanding of the past.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2012

Reviews

[Chelsee Alcantara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good review of the history of history, but repetitive. Condensed enough.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never thought about the history of studying or writing about history before. This book gave me a lot of think about and helped me understand why we have different ideas about what history is important.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of historian's perspectives on how they study history. I appreciated the organization of each chapter. Hard to get through as academic writing goes but not too bad considering.

[Jarred Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot...an excellent introduction to studying history, and the various schools of thought...

[Natalie Mazzini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely done and informative but dense and dry, making it hard to get through.

[Suzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the "history of history" but I had just finished Breisach and this seemed a little thin. That said, it is probably a better place to start if you are new to the subject.