- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226072791
- eISBN:
- 9780226072814
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226072814.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
A search for postmodernist traces in Western historiography between 1850 and 1914 seemed to be an unpromising endeavor. In these years, modernity, both in theory and the praxis of life, radiated an ...
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A search for postmodernist traces in Western historiography between 1850 and 1914 seemed to be an unpromising endeavor. In these years, modernity, both in theory and the praxis of life, radiated an unprecedented confidence that stifled doubts about progress. European societies expanded their economic base by industrialization within the framework of capitalism, spread their political power across the globe, and enhanced the comfort and health of many of their citizens. The United States fulfilled its “manifest destiny” in becoming a truly continental nation—one prosperous and powerful. The theoreticians of progress could paint the expectations for the future only in bright colors. In the contemporary historical nexus, the future could still be seen as free of the past's vicissitudes. Even most prominent critics of the Enlightenment's rationalist version of progress—such as the Marxists—pitted against it yet another version of a radiant future.Less
A search for postmodernist traces in Western historiography between 1850 and 1914 seemed to be an unpromising endeavor. In these years, modernity, both in theory and the praxis of life, radiated an unprecedented confidence that stifled doubts about progress. European societies expanded their economic base by industrialization within the framework of capitalism, spread their political power across the globe, and enhanced the comfort and health of many of their citizens. The United States fulfilled its “manifest destiny” in becoming a truly continental nation—one prosperous and powerful. The theoreticians of progress could paint the expectations for the future only in bright colors. In the contemporary historical nexus, the future could still be seen as free of the past's vicissitudes. Even most prominent critics of the Enlightenment's rationalist version of progress—such as the Marxists—pitted against it yet another version of a radiant future.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This book is the third volume in a survey of Western historiography, and covers the twentieth century, focusing on Europe. As in the first two volumes, the text discusses historical methods and ideas ...
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This book is the third volume in a survey of Western historiography, and covers the twentieth century, focusing on Europe. As in the first two volumes, the text discusses historical methods and ideas of all sorts to provide a detailed map of historical learning. Here the text carries the survey forward to our own times, confronting directly the challenges of postmodernism and historical narrative. The book offers original discussions from the last half century, the “linguistic turn,” the “end of history,” the philosophy of history, and various new methods of histories. The book focuses first on the state of the art of history in France, Germany, Britain, and the United States on the eve of World War I. It then traces every important historiographical issue and development historians have encountered in the twentieth century. With the completion of this trilogy, the text presents a comprehensive modern survey of historical writing.Less
This book is the third volume in a survey of Western historiography, and covers the twentieth century, focusing on Europe. As in the first two volumes, the text discusses historical methods and ideas of all sorts to provide a detailed map of historical learning. Here the text carries the survey forward to our own times, confronting directly the challenges of postmodernism and historical narrative. The book offers original discussions from the last half century, the “linguistic turn,” the “end of history,” the philosophy of history, and various new methods of histories. The book focuses first on the state of the art of history in France, Germany, Britain, and the United States on the eve of World War I. It then traces every important historiographical issue and development historians have encountered in the twentieth century. With the completion of this trilogy, the text presents a comprehensive modern survey of historical writing.
