Versions of history from antiquity to the Enlightenment / edited by Donald R. Kelley.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kelley, Donald R., 1931-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History--Philosophy.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (529 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The problems, purposes, and methods of history writing have been the subject of debate for almost three millennia. Should history be political or philosophical? Is the writing of history an art or a science? What are the limitations of history? This book is an intriguing collection of views on these and other aspects of history writing by eminent Western historians from early Greece to the end of the eighteenth century. The book contains major texts from 112 historians, both well-known and neglected, ranging from the "mythistories" of Homer and Hesiod to the "reasoned" and "philosophical" accounts of Vico and Voltaire. These texts discuss, for example, theories of historical change, problems of anachronism, narrative, and gender, questions of origins, causation, and historical patterns, and historical criticism. Donald R. Kelley, who selected and arranged the writings, also provides essays and commentary that give background material on the themes of historiography and on the authors included in the book

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1. Introduction: Looking Backward

2. Greece

3. Rome

4. The Judeo-Christian Tradition

5. The Middle Ages

6. The Renaissance

7. The Reformation

8. The Science of History

9. The Enlightenment

10. Conclusion: Looking Forward

Select Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 505-508) and index.

ISBN:

9786611735371

9781281735379

128173537X

9780300137958

0300137958

OCLC:

923592564