-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"John Arnold builds around a few glittering fragments of the past-- a medieval murderer, a 17th-century pension to an abandoned wife, a speech by a black woman born into slavery-- a whole exhibition about what history is and is not. Writing with lucidity and passion, he lays out for inspection all the ways of recounting and exploiting the past through narrative which has been used from Herodotus to Hobsbawn. His range of knowledge and interests is phenomenal, but his skills as a communicator makes his own subtle analysis of history's history as gripping as a novel."--Neal Ascherson
"A stimulating and provocative introduction to one of collective humanity's most important quests-- understanding the past and its relation to the present. A vivid mix of telling examples and clear-cut analysis."--David Lowenthal, University College, London
"Intriguing and original in its discussion of why history matters and what are the problems inherent in studying it. The book is admirable in being discursive and thought-provoking."--Paul Freedman, Yale University
"Accessible to students and wide-ranging in content, Arnold uncovers major issues in the historical profession in a way that invites student participation."--Russ Reeves, Trinity Christian College
"Exactly what I needed. Suitable for the non-major undergrad and the graduate school bound major student."--Rea Andrew Reid, Waynesburg College
"This is an extremely engaging book, lively, enthusiastic and highly readable, which presents some of the fundamental problems of historical writing in a lucid and accessible manner. As an invitation to the study of history it should be difficult to resist."--Peter Burke, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
"A few millenia of events, millions of transcripts tucked away, uncountable lives passed, endless stories to tell. History: where to begin? John Arnold's History: A Very Short Introduction is an excellent short answer. Lucid and thoughtfully written, it wi
Product Description
There are many stories we can tell about the past, and we are not, perhaps, as free as we might imagine in our choice of which stories to tell, or where those stories end. John Arnold's Very Short Introduction is a stimulating essay about how we study and understand history. The book begins by inviting us to think about various questions provoked by our investigation of history, and explores the ways these questions have been answered in the past. Concepts such as causation, interpretation, and periodization, are introduced by means of concrete examples of how historians work, giving the reader a sense of the excitement of discovering not only the past, but also ourselves.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Here is a true story. In 1301 Guilhem de Rodes hurried down from his Pyrenean village of Tarascon to the town of Pamiers, in the south of France. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Here is a true story. In 1301 Guilhem de Rodes hurried down from his Pyrenean village of Tarascon to the town of Pamiers, in the south of France. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Arnold takes 'historiography' to be the process of writing history, and 'history' to be the result of that process, i.e. to be a set of true stories about the past. If you enjoy reading history, then you should read at least something about historiography, to help you evaluate and interpret what you read. This short introduction to the subject is probably as good a place as any to start and for many readers will be as much historiography as they think they need.
Major figures such as Thucydides and von Ranke are discussed and central issues in the philosophy of history, such as the extent to which people of other times were essentially different from us, are introduced. Arnold presents a wide range of opinions on these various topics, but has a bias toward the politically correct.
His style is readable, if sometimes clumsy, but overall this little book succeeds admirably in its task and contains a wealth of information and opinion. It is recommended for anyone wanting to get beyond the 'true stories' to what history really is.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is simply and beautifully written, but at the same time, deeply thoughtful. John Arnold uses lively cases studies to illustrate big ideas about the activities and knowledge that makes up 'history'. I hadn't had much interest in history since dropping it in school, but reading this I realized why some people are such history enthusiasts.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a lively, provocative book. Arnold introduces, in a very personable and readable manner, some central questions about what history is, and can claim to be, and how it can be "done". He explores these questions through some entertaining and refreshing examples of historical source material.
Arnold strikes a balance that carries the reader through the complexities of the issues at hand without descending into patronising simplification, or bewildering jargon. He obviously has a passion for his subject, and this comes across very strongly in the book.
If you think history is all "kings and battles" and BBC2 programmes about archaeology, read this book- it might change your mind.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Short Introduction - One of the Best in the Series
I have always been fascinated with history. The combination of storytelling and solid factual information about peoples and events that are very distant from us, both in time and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dr. Bojan Tunguz
More Historiography than History...
This book isn't so much about history, rather historiography (the study of History.) Unlike many academic texts, this short pocket book is easy to follow and read, and the author... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Luke
One of the best shortest books on the longest subject
History is surely one of the most difficult and profound subjects to write a subject on, and John Arnold writes it brilliantly, the book neither being too academic, nor too... Read more
Published on 18 May 2009 by H.P.J.M.
Could be better
I guess most people will buy these short introductions to dip in to a subject out of general interest, then go deeper if they want after. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2009 by K. Watton
Essential reading for anyone interested in History
This is an excellent, well written and thought provoking book about what it might mean to do History (and most other things). Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2002
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
