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2 Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky, excellent volume
What is History is necessarily dated - historiography does move on, seminal historical issues (the terror of the Soviet Union) have evolved and changed dramatically since the time of writing. The book is also completely biased in Carr's own skewed humanist liberal image of progress through reform, and the subjetive nature of the historian's viewpoint. None...
Published on April 18, 2009 by Sirin
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Same Old Carr
Carr's classic What is History? appears in this book in full text as it did in 1961. What also appears is seventy-odd pages of prefatory material. While this material, including Carr's notes toward a second edition, Carr's preface to his unwritten second edition, and an in-depth introduction by Richard J. Evans is interesting enough, none of it seemed to merit the...
Published on September 21, 2005 by Joseph L. Davies
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Same Old Carr,
By
This review is from: What Is History? (Hardcover)
Carr's classic What is History? appears in this book in full text as it did in 1961. What also appears is seventy-odd pages of prefatory material. While this material, including Carr's notes toward a second edition, Carr's preface to his unwritten second edition, and an in-depth introduction by Richard J. Evans is interesting enough, none of it seemed to merit the publication of a new edition. The historiography of Carr has progressed considerably in the last forty years, and the introductory material reviews it well, but it includes nothing seminal. Furthermore, the added material lacks the colorful vivacity that characterizes Carr's What is History? The bottom line is that the meat and potatoes of Carr is still Carr, and it's just not worth spending the extra money on the new edition when there are copies of the older editions available.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky, excellent volume,
By Sirin (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Is History? (Hardcover)
What is History is necessarily dated - historiography does move on, seminal historical issues (the terror of the Soviet Union) have evolved and changed dramatically since the time of writing. The book is also completely biased in Carr's own skewed humanist liberal image of progress through reform, and the subjetive nature of the historian's viewpoint.
None of this spoils one jot an excellent volume (though the preface material adds little, as another reviewer has noted). It is packed with vignettes, riffs and intellectual trinkets, carefully outlying a consideration of what is history - how does causation work? Does history progress? How does the individual fit into society? There is plenty to cherish in this slim volume, many intellectual reference points, and the odd passage that will raise an odd eyebrow or two - for examole Carr's contention in the final chapter that progress only comes about by radical reform of society through reason, implying that those in the conservative, pragmatic school have offered little to nothing towards human progress. Well worth reading for anyone involved in the practice or teaching of history, or about to become involved, at whatever level. |
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What Is History? by Edward Hallett Carr (Hardcover - November 17, 2001)
$16.50
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