Other pasts, different presents, alternative futures / Jeremy Black.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Black, Jeremy, 1955-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imaginary histories.

History--Methodology.

History.

Contingency (Philosophy).

Agent (Philosophy).

History--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xiii, 236 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2015]

Summary:

"What if there had been no World War I or no Russian Revolution? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo in 1815, or if Martin Luther had not nailed his complaints to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, or if the South had won the American Civil War? The questioning of apparent certainties or 'known knowns' can be fascinating and, indeed, 'What if?' books are very popular. However, this speculative approach, known as counterfactualism, has had limited impact in academic histories, historiography, and the teaching of historical methods. In this book, Jeremy Black offers a short guide to the subject, one that is designed to argue its value as a tool for public and academe alike. Black focuses on the role of counterfactualism in demonstrating the part of contingency, and thus human agency, in history, and the salutary critique the approach offers to determinist accounts of past, present, and future"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A personal note on life and times

Types of history

Power and the struggle for imperial mastery

The West and the rest

Britain and France, 1688-1815

Counterfactualism in military history

Into the future

Skepticism and the historian

Conclusions

Postscript.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780253016973

0253016975

9780253017048

0253017041

OCLC:

894026182