617 José Rabasa, Masayuki Sato, Edoardo Tortarolo, and Daniel

book reviews 617

José Rabasa, Masayuki Sato, Edoardo Tortarolo, and Daniel Woolf, eds. The Oxford History of Historical Writing, Volume 3: 1400-1800, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, 727 pp. ISBN 978-0-199-21917-9, $185.00.

Volume 3 of the highly ambitious Oxford History of Historical Writing covers the transitional period between what western historians tend to distinguish as ancient and medieval historiography on the one side and modernity and post- modernity on the other, in short what many call the early modern world. Following a “Foreword” by the general editor of the series, Daniel Woolf, and an insightful “Editors’ Introduction” to this particular volume, no fewer than twenty-seven essays authored by specialists in their fields trace the historiographical experiences and idiosyncrasies of cultures from East to West, beginning with Ming and Qing China and concluding with Colonial and Revolutionary America. Not all contributors are historians by training, with Donald Kelley, Peter Burke, and Paul Lovejoy ranking among the better-known ones in that category. Instead they share the spotlight with literature and lan- guage experts, librarians, anthropologists, and philosophers. Some contribu- tions are narrower in scope than others, while all stay close to the chronological and geographical signposts set by the editors. Predictably coverage of sub- Saharan Africa remains meager, given the prevalence of oral traditions there, with only one essay examining scholarship and historical understanding in Islamic West Africa. Entries range in length from about 10 to 25 pages and for the benefit of its readers include timelines, key dates, major historical sources, and more or less up-to-date bibliographies. Several maps help illustrate central points made in the texts, while notes on contributors and a fine index round out the book. The editors have striven to lend as much coherence and common standards to the individual essays as the enormous diversity of historiographical and cultural experiences implied in their undertaking allows. Apparently a confer- ence held in Canada in 2008 brought the majority of contributors together and gave much common purpose to the enterprise. Still, readers looking for the proverbial trees and not a picture of the forest may be tempted to use this work more as an encyclopedia than as a global history of history over four centuries in twenty-seven chapters. And why not? Scholars of a more philosophical dis- position will feast on the richness, quantity, quality, and cleverness of historiographical production across vast cultural and geographical divides; whereas those looking for detailed information on specific events, works, writers, or historiographical schools will likewise learn to praise the comprehensive coverage this work offers.

While this volume mirrors and deepens the growing prevalence of global approaches to the past and present, it is also a reminder how culturally isolated and insulated even the finest historiographical efforts have remained until very recent times, be they collectively authored state-sponsored histories as was typical in East Asia, or the product of individual historians such as the majority of those representing the western tradition. Likewise the uses of history and historiography varied widely, from efforts to link earthly events to cosmologi- cal and mythological frameworks, to annals and chronicles simply recording sequences of events, to ambitious undertakings trying to discover meaning and patterns within the apparent chaos and randomness of the occurrences around us. Not surprisingly, history, religion, philosophy, and literature remained tightly intertwined disciplines throughout the early modern era. Another central theme of the essays is the historiographical practice in most cultures to rewrite the history of earlier eras in light of contemporary experiences, priorities, and anxieties. The recurring Western fascination with the world of classical antiquity is just as much an example of this tendency as, say, the search for “golden ages” in Oriental or Persian schools of historiography. Where certain historiographical genres came in contact with the efforts of their counterparts in neighboring cultures, both the blending of their respec- tive approaches to the past as well as sharp delineations and the careful pres- ervation of national traditions could result. One is reminded here of what happens when religions interact: in some cases a gradual syncretism may occur, in others one will absorb the other, and in yet other cases a more or less tolerant coexistence may prevail. Thus most contributors to this volume are keenly aware that their subject matter is ultimately a moving target as both the events to be recorded and the perspectives and purposes of the chroniclers are in perpetual flux. A special and very subtle understanding of historiographical diversity is required to appraise the pre-contact Mesoamerican pictographic histories, the corresponding efforts by the Incas and their predecessors in South America, and native historiographical responses to the arrival and suzerainty of the Europeans. Not surprisingly, traditional historians share this field with anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, art historians, and anyone else trained in extracting meaning from artifacts rather than from the written word. Similar approaches and techniques would be required in assessing much of sub- Saharan Africa’s understanding of the historical past prior to the introduction of Islamic and western-style recording systems. The editors of, and contributors to, the present work should be congratu- lated on a solid achievement whose value will be much enhanced once the entire five-volume set has been completed. In rejecting the largely discredited

Journal of early modern history 18 (2014) 609-625