A History of Historical Writing

Fülszöveg

This is virtually the only adequate survey oi the whole course of historical writing available in a single volume. It surveys the development of the art and science of historical writing from the earliest days to our own era, in relation to the cultural background and the intellectual forces that have conditioned its evolution.
The author exhibits consummate erudition and understanding of his subject as he carries out his stated purpose: to characterize the intellectual background of each major period of human advance in Western civilization, show how the historical literature of each period has been related to its parent culture, point out the dominant traits of the historical writing in each era, indicate the advances, if any, in historical science, and then make clear the individual contributions of the major historical writers of the age.
Beginning with the very earliest historical writings, Dr. Barnes discusses the works of the Greek and Roman historians, the early... Tovább

Fülszöveg

This is virtually the only adequate survey oi the whole course of historical writing available in a single volume. It surveys the development of the art and science of historical writing from the earliest days to our own era, in relation to the cultural background and the intellectual forces that have conditioned its evolution.
The author exhibits consummate erudition and understanding of his subject as he carries out his stated purpose: to characterize the intellectual background of each major period of human advance in Western civilization, show how the historical literature of each period has been related to its parent culture, point out the dominant traits of the historical writing in each era, indicate the advances, if any, in historical science, and then make clear the individual contributions of the major historical writers of the age.
Beginning with the very earliest historical writings, Dr. Barnes discusses the works of the Greek and Roman historians, the early Christian and medieval writers, humanistic writings, ecclesiastical histories during the reformation and counter-reformation, the rise of social and cultural history, romanticism and the philosophy of history, historical writing under the influence of liberalism and nationalism, the rise of critical historical scholarship, the fall and rise of historical scholarship as a result of the World Wars, the perspective and interests of the historian, the rise of Kulturge-schichte, history and the sciences of man, and the new history and the future of m sio ricai writi ng.
Dr. Barnes has revised his original book for this new Dover edition. He has brought the bibliography and footnotes up to date (even including some books published in 1961), he has taken into account all criticisms of the earlier edition, and most important of all, he has inserted commentary on historical works of genuine importance that have been published since 1938 on all periods of history from the pre-literary age to the Cold War,
As a guide and textbook for courses in historiography and the historical method, or as an introduction to the history of historical writing for the general reader, this book—the only one of its kind on the market, for all practical purposes—is absolutely indispensable. Vissza