In Carr’s words, what history is not, or should not be, is a way of constructing historical accounts that are obsessed with both the facts and the documents which are said to contain them. Carr believes that by doing this the profoundly important shaping power of the historian will surely be downplayed.
Carr’s decision to end his history at 1929, before the worst of Stalin’s purges and provincial famines, also drew criticism. Modern historians with access to Soviet archival material have identified errors and misjudgements in Carr’s landmark work. Despite this, it remains one of the 20th century’s most significant histories of revolutionary Russia. Quotations “In Marx, there is no.
History is defined in the dictionary as a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes. A historian might argue that any event that affects life as it is today is a part of history. For example the Big Bang or the. Wordcount: 419.
E. H. Carr's What Is History? is the classic introduction to the theory of history. Exploding the Victorian myth of history as a simple record of fact, Carr draws on sources from Nietzsche to Herodotus to argue for a more subtle definition of history as 'an unending dialogue between the present and the past'. Lively, scholarly and challenging, this book is essential reading for anyone.
Carr argued that history is always constructed, is a discourse about the past and not a reflection of it. Carr recognised that history as a discipline does not follow the logic of discovery. This has been a position much misunderstood by the profession. Thus, both the realist philosopher of history Michael Stanford and reconstructionist historian Arthur Marwick emphasised Carr's judgement that.
Kremmer’s argument that history is complex, ever-changing and capable ofbeing repeated, often painfully, by contemporary society is an argument that encompasses the verynature of historiography itself. Other historians, including Thucydides, Edward Gibbon and E. H.Carr all have their own perspectives on the nature of historiography, and thus will inevitably havevarious perspectives on the.
History ends up as a tool for the appreciation of some of our present advantages which it’s easy to miss. It can teach us to judge our society against other societies rather than against our ideals. Of course the European Union has problems, but the Habsburg Empire had them and many more. Our governments are deeply imperfect, but there have been worse. Traffic is terrible, but so was the.
Carr sees history as a process less about the 'facts' unearthed, and more with the meaning imprinted on those 'facts' by the historians that study them. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to understand how society, political systems, and eras can morph the history produced.