Sometimes an art : nine essays on history Bernard Bailyn

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bailyn, Bernard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History--Philosophy.

History.

Historiography--Philosophy.

Historiography.

Great Britain--Colonies--Historiography.

Great Britain.

United States--Historiography.

United States.

Physical Description:

307 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2015]

Summary:

"From one of the most respected historians in America, twice the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a new collection of essays that reflect a lifetime of erudition and accomplishments in history. The past has always been elusive: how can we understand people whose worlds were utterly different from our own without imposing our own standards and hindsight? What did things feel like in the moment when outcomes were uncertain? How can we recover the uncertainties of the past, before the outcomes were known? What kind of imagination goes into the writing of transformative history? Are there latent trends that distinguish the kinds of history we now write? How unique was North America among the far-flung peripheries of the early British empire? As Bernard Bailyn argues in this elegant, deeply informed collection of essays, history always combines approximations based on incomplete data, with empathic imagination and the interweaving of strands of knowledge into a narrative which also explains. This is a stirring and insightful work drawing on the wisdom and perspective of a career spanning more than five decades--a book that will appeal to anyone interested in history"--From publisher's website.

Contents:

Part One. On history and the struggle to get it right

Considering the slave trade : history and memory

Context in history

Three trends in modern history

History and the creative imagination

The losers

Part Two. The peripheries of the first British Empire

Thomas Hutchinson in context : the ordeal revisited

England's cultural provinces : Scotland and America (co-authored with John Clive)

Peopling the peripheries

The search for perfection

Appendix.

Notes:

"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-297) and index.

ISBN:

9781101874479 (hardcover)

1101874473 (hardcover)

OCLC:

893721526

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description