Britain and Europe since 1945 : historiographical perspectives on integration / Oliver J. Daddow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daddow, Oliver J., 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European Union--Great Britain--Historiography.

European Union.

Historiography.

Great Britain.

Europe--Economic integration--Historiography.

Europe.

Physical Description:

xii, 252 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2004.

Summary:

This path-breaking work offers a refreshing and challenging perspective on the nature of history by analysing the character, role, functioning and wider uses of historiography. Taking British policy towards European integration since the Second World War as a case study, the author demonstrates how its interpretation and reportage has dramatically changed over time. Seeking to explain these trends in terms of the different conceptions of the past held by different schools of writing, the book invites us to confront the fundamental difficulties we encounter in undertaking studies in history. It draws attention to the impact on historical interpretation of changing times, political debate, the opening of archives, and of subjects being brought to the fore by professional historians. The study casts light on the crucial role played by historians in representing past events and in creating their narratives. It asserts that the entire histographic process is riddled with politics and ideology, and that to write the historian out of his or her texts is to misrepresent what it entails to write history. In so doing, it demonstrates how the philosophy of history has a direct bearing upon the everyday practice of history. This book forces us to confront the fundamental difficulties we encounter in thinking about and understanding history. It will appeal to international historians, those interested in history as a form of philosophical inquiry, students of European integration history and the Cold War, and British foreign policy-makers.

Contents:

Introduction: using history, making policy 1

British eurosceptic discourse 2

British euroenthusiast discourse 5

Lost history 9

1 Method and argument 22

Constructing schools of writing 45

Core argument 50

2 The orthodox school 58

'Missed opportunities': historicising the conventional wisdom 60

The genesis of the orthodoxy 67

Content and form 101

3 The revisionist school 114

Challenging the received wisdom 116

The genesis of revisionism 122

The effects of 'disciplinisation' 137

4 The historiography in current perspective 157

An emerging post-revisionist synthesis? 157

Revising revisionism 163

Post-revisionist narrativisation 172

Conclusion: historians and historiography 185

Rethinking the history debate 191

Policy-relevant history 199

Future research 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [210]-234) and index.

ISBN:

0719061377

OCLC:

53839913