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Sense of History's Reviews > History: A Very Short Introduction
History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
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Sense of History's review
bookshelves: historiography, the-writing-of-history, theory-of-history
Feb 13, 2014
bookshelves: historiography, the-writing-of-history, theory-of-history
I really enjoyed reading this little book, because it is beautifully written in the first place, but also because I like the author’s point of view on the relativity of the historians profession. The past is a foreign country, there are no self-evident truths to be found over there, so an historian can only do his best at telling a true story. A story, indeed, because he’s on his own to make �sense of that mess, finding or creating patterns and meanings and stories from the maelstrom�, but nevertheless also telling a true story, that is clinging as honestly as possible to what the sources tell him/her, knowing there is not one monolithic truth. Of course, here Arnolds is dancing on a tightrope, coming very close to postmodernism. But I am convinced he has found the right balance between positivism (�wie es eigentlich�) and relativism.
My only disappointment is in the end: <>"Why does history matter?", Arnold asks. And here he is a bit too quick to dismiss three classical answers, namely to learn lessons, to provide us with an identity and to get deep fundamental insight into the human condition. Of course, there is a real danger in taking these questions and answers too seriously, but to wipe them of the table, is a bit too drastic to my taste. The study of the past isn't just a fun game: it's a deeply serious exercise in giving sense to the present and the future.
My only disappointment is in the end: <>"Why does history matter?", Arnold asks. And here he is a bit too quick to dismiss three classical answers, namely to learn lessons, to provide us with an identity and to get deep fundamental insight into the human condition. Of course, there is a real danger in taking these questions and answers too seriously, but to wipe them of the table, is a bit too drastic to my taste. The study of the past isn't just a fun game: it's a deeply serious exercise in giving sense to the present and the future.
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February 1, 2014
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February 13, 2014
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Robert
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Apr 30, 2024 09:18PM
I like your last sentence.
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Robert wrote: "I like your last sentence."Thanks Robert!
Bernd wrote: "I'm a history student (VUB) and I notice the postmodern viewing of history is still a very popular way of viewing history among some of my professors. How do I deal with those people and the things..."Who am I to judge, Bernd? As you've noticed, I'm not a big fan of postmodernism, at least not of postmodernism in its radical phase, when it was going for complete relativism. But, you know, the pendulum always swings back and forth. There were good reasons for postmodernism to relativize the all-too-sure statements of modernism, with its claims on objective truth. I now see postmodernism as a phase we - as historians (and other social sciences) - had to go through to become conscient again of the epistemological fundamentals of our trade: we're never going to be a positive science (as modernism was striving to); for that we're too much anchored in present reality and constrained by the limits of the narrative business, structural power play and so on. So, it's a good thing postmodernism pointed to that. But - inevitably, and fortunately - the pendulum after that swung back again to a more realistic attempt to try to tell a true story about the past, knowing that a definite story never can be attained. Is that a failure or a defeat? No, it's just the human condition, and we have to make the best of it, in this domain (history) as in all the others. And don't underestimate this more humble position: as I've written in my review, the writing of history always will remain "a deeply serious exercise in giving sense to the present and the future." In my eyes, that's no small feat. I sincerely congratulate you with your choice to study history, and wish you all the best!
