FIFTY KEY THINKERS ON HISTORY Fifty Key Thinkers on History is a superb guide to historiography through the ages. The cross-section of debates and thinkers covered is unique in its breadth, taking in figures from ancient China, Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages, to the contemporary world. From Bede to Braudel, Ranke to Ricoeur, Froissant to Foucault, this book offers an accessible and unified introduction to the ideas of key thinkers in the field. This new edition includes: updated entries that reflect scholarship published since mid-1999 new entries on Christine de Pizan, Friedrich Nietzsche, Keith Jenkins, Richard J. Evans an introduction to the idea of historiography an index Each clear and concise essay offers biographical information; a sum- mary and discussion of the subject’s approach to history and how others have engaged with it; a list of their major works and a guide to diverse resources for further study, including books, articles, films and websites. Marnie Hughes-Warrington is Associate Professor in Modern History at Macquaire University, Australia, and has previously taught at both the University of Oxford and the University of Washington in Seattle. She is the editor of Palgrave Advances in World Histories (2005) and author of How Good an Historian Shall I Be?: R. G. Collingwood, the Historical Imagination and Education (2003) and History Goes to the Movies: Studying History on Film (Routledge, 2007). ALSO AVAILABLE FROM ROUTLEDGE Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers G.R. Evans 978-0-415-23663-8 The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right Peter Davies and Derek Lynch 978-0-415-21495-7 The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism Edited by Stuart Sim 978-0-415-33359-7 Who’s Who in Military History John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft 978-0-415-26039-8 Who’s Who in Modern History Alan Palmer 978-0-415-11885-9 Who’s Who in World War I John Bourne 0-415-14179-6 Who’s Who in World War II Edited by John Keegan 0-415-26033-7 Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History Edited by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon 978-0-415-15983-8 FIFTY KEY THINKERS ON HISTORY Second Edition Marnie Hughes-Warrington For B CONTENTS Chronological List of Contents ix Introduction to the Second Edition: xi Introduction to the First Edition: xxii Acknowledgments xxx Bede 3 Marc Bloch 11 Fernand Braudel 20 E. H. Carr 28 R. G. Collingwood 36 Benedetto Croce 45 Natalie Zemon Davis 53 Christine de Pizan 60 Wilhelm Dilthey 67 Cheikh Anta Diop 74 G. R. Elton 83 Richard J. Evans 92 Lucien Febvre 100 Michel Foucault 107 Jean Froissart 116 Pieter Geyl 124 Edward Gibbon 130 Gregory of Tours 138 G. W. F. Hegel 146 Martin Heidegger 155 Carl Gustav Hempel 162 Herodotus 169 Eric Hobsbawm 178 Ibn Khaldun 188 Keith Jenkins 195 Immanuel Kant 203 Thomas Samuel Kuhn 210 vii CONTENTS Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 219 Livy 227 Thomas Babington Macaulay 234 Karl Marx 241 Jules Michelet 251 Theodore William Moody 259 Friedrich Nietzsche 268 Michael Oakeshott 276 Polybius 285 Leopold von Ranke 293 Paul Ricoeur 300 Joan Wallach Scott 308 Sima Qian 316 Oswald Spengler 324 Tacitus 331 A. J. P. Taylor 339 E. P. Thompson 346 Thucydides 354 Arnold J. Toynbee 360 Frederick Jackson Turner 367 Giambattista Vico 375 W. H. Walsh 381 Hayden White 388 Index 397 viii CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CONTENTS Herodotus (c. 484–c. 424 BCE) 169 Thucydides (c. 460–c. 400 BCE) 354 Polybius (c. 200–c. 118 BCE) 285 Sima Qian (c. 145–c. 90 BCE) 316 Livy (c. 64 BCE–c. 12 CE) 227 Tacitus (c. 56–c. 117) 331 Gregory of Tours (c. 539–c. 94) 138 Bede (c. 673–735) 3 Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) 188 Jean Froissart (c. 1337–c. 1410) 116 Christine de Pizan (c. 1365–c. 1430) 60 Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) 375 Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 203 Edward Gibbon (1737–94) 130 G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) 146 Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) 293 Jules Michelet (1798–1874) 251 Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–59) 234 Karl Marx (1818–80) 241 Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) 67 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 268 Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932) 367 Benedetto Croce (1866–1952) 45 Lucien Febvre (1878–1956) 100 Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) 324 Marc Bloch (1886–1944) 11 Pieter Geyl (1887–1966) 124 R. G. Collingwood (1889–1943) 36 Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) 360 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) 155 ix CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CONTENTS E. H. Carr (1892–1982) 28 Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) 276 Fernand Braudel (1902–85) 20 Carl Gustav Hempel (1905–97) 162 A. J. P. Taylor (1906–90) 339 Theodore William Moody (1907–84) 359 Paul Ricoeur (1913–2003) 300 W. H. Walsh (1913–86) 381 Eric Hobsbawm (1917–) 178 G. R. Elton (1921–94) 83 Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922–96) 210 Cheikh Anta Diop (1923–86) 74 E. P. Thompson (1924–93) 346 Michel Foucault (1926–84) 107 Natalie Zemon Davis (1928–) 53 Hayden White (1928–) 388 Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (1929–) 219 Joan Wallach Scott (1941–) 308 Keith Jenkins (1943–) 195 Richard J. Evans (1947–) 92 x INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION What is Historiography? If you were to tell me that you were studying or interested in his- toriography, my first response would be to ask you more about what that meant. This is because historiography refers to a broader range of activities than is often acknowledged by historians and history tea- chers. In this introduction, I will explore four, and suggest how knowledge of them can help us better understand both the diversity and limitations of the visions of history set out in this book. 1. Studies of History as a Social Phenomenon In the course of our discussion, it might become clear, for instance, that you see historiography as exploring the social phenomenon of history. Historiography understood in this sense may entail the anthropological and sociological investigation of the ‘historicities’ of various communities today, that is, their ways of experiencing and understanding, and constructing and representing history. Anthro- pological studies of historical awareness make it clear that no single understanding of history binds cultures together. For you, history may imply the chronological arrangement of phenomena; for an Abori- ginal storyteller in Northern Australia, on the other hand, historical figures that lived hundreds of years apart may be brought together to stress the moral and social significance of a place.1 An important challenge for historiographers is to figure out how to respond to these differences. Are they superficial differences that mask an underlying, common, idea of history? Alternatively, do they resemble one another in some ways but not in others? Or is the idea of history specific to particular cultural groups, and any transnational application of the xi INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION concept tantamount to intellectual colonisation?2 On what grounds can we respond to these questions? Sociological studies focused on single cultural contexts have also highlighted variations in ‘historicities’. In the US-based ‘Presence of the Past’ project, for instance, Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen asked 1500 people where they encountered history, what activities gave them a strong sense of being connected with the past and what historical activities they trusted the most. 92% of the people inter- viewed indicated that they had come into contact with the past through photographs and 81% through films and television. These figures were much higher than the number of people who read books about the past (53%) or who participated in a group devoted to studying, preserving or presenting the past (20%). Moreover, respondents registered a stronger connection with the past when they looked at photographs or watched films and television than when they studied history in school. Interestingly, though, those inter- viewed placed far less trust in films and television as history than phenomena such as museum displays.3 Similar results have been reported in the ‘Australians and the Past’ project.4 As Rosenzweig and Thelen have argued, findings like this challenge us to broaden our understanding of ‘history’ beyond print. It cannot be assumed that histories are found only on bookshelves; they are also to be found in cinemas, family gatherings, museums and other social spaces. 2. Psychological Studies of Historical Awareness and Thinking Sociological studies challenge us to think about the primacy of written texts in historical and historiographical studies. We realise that the question ‘what is history?’ also entails asking ‘where is history?’. Psychological approaches to the study of historical awareness respond to that question by focusing on the mental activities of those who make and study histories, as well as social practices conventionally associated with the term. The intersection of psychology and history is best known to historians through the biographical works of ‘psycho- historians’. Psychohistorians aim to illuminate and understand the mental, emotional and moral motivations and behaviours of individual historians. Peter Gay, Leonard Krieger and Arthur Witzman, for instance, have suggested that the childhood experiences of Thomas Babington Macaulay, Leopold von Ranke and Jules Michelet help to explain the contours of their works.5 Much more psychological research, though, is focused on the development of historical awareness and thinking in children and adolescents. That research makes it clear xii INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION that there is no clear-cut answer to the question of what historical thinking is and when and how it develops. While Bruce Van Sledright and Jean Brophy, for instance, have argued that historical experiences are remote to children before high school, Peter Seixas and Hilary Cooper maintain that children interact with historical sources and concepts from birth and are ready to discuss them explicitly in primary school.6 There is no agreement as to the nature of historical think- ing—socially or even neurologically—or conventionally cited con- cepts such as empathy.7 This makes it difficult to determine how historical thought should be assessed in school and university settings, and whether students engage with materials and concepts as historians do.