Making history : the storytellers who shaped the past / Richard Cohen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Richard, 1947- author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historians.

World history.

Historiography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxii, 753 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2022.

Summary:

"A fascinating, epic exploration of who gets to record the world's history -- from Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Ken Burns -- and how their biases influence our understanding about the past. There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as "objective" history? In this lively and thought-provoking book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of "Bad History" and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country. Making History investigates the published works and private utterances of our greatest chroniclers to discover the agendas that informed their -- and our -- views of the world. From the origins of history writing, when such an activity itself seemed revolutionary, through to television and the digital age, Cohen brings captivating figures to vivid light, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, Winston Churchill and Henry Louis Gates. Rich in complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a revealing exploration of both the aims and art of history-making, one that will lead us to rethink how we learn about our past and about ourselves."-- Provided by publisher

Reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: OVERTURE

The Monk Outside the Monastery

1. The Dawning of History

Herodotus or Thucydides?

2. The Glory that Was Rome

From Polybius to Suetonius

3. History and Myth

Creating the Bible

4. Closing Down the Past

The Muslim View of History

5. The Medieval Chroniclers

Creating a Nation's Story

6. The Accidental Historian

Niccolo Machiavelli

7. William Shakespeare

The Drama of History

8. Zozo and the Marionette Infidel

M. Voltaire and Mr. Gibbon

9. Announcing A Discipline

From Macaulay to von Ranke

10. Once Upon A Time

Novelists as Past Masters

11. America Against Itself

Versions of the Civil War

12. Of Shoes and Ships And Sealing Wax

The Annates School

13. The Red Historians

From Karl Marx to Eric Hobsbawm

14. History from the Inside

From Julius Caesar to Ulysses S. Grant

15. The Spinning of History

Churchill and His Factory

16. Mighty Opposites

Wars Inside the Academy

17. The Wounded Historian

John Keegan and the Military Mind

18. Herstory

From Ban Zhao to Mary Beard

19. Who Tells Our Story?

From George W. Williams to Ibram X. Kendi

20. Bad History

Truth-Telling vs. "Patriotism"

21. The First Draft

Journalists and the Recent Past

22. On Television

From A.J.P. Taylor to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [665]-708) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Livezey Fund bookplate.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781982195786

1982195789

OCLC:

1259400918