Whig Interpretation of History
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Reading for History Grad Students,
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This review is from: The Whig Interpretation of History (Paperback)
"The Whig Interpretation of History" is superb meditation on the craft of history and how it can be distorted by "whig history." This was how Herbert Butterfield described historians who project modern attitudes on to the past, pass moral judgments on historical figures, and regard history as significant only to the extent that it labored to create the modern world. Butterfield regarded "whig history" as the antithesis of real history, which glories in the sheer "differentness" of the past and attempts to understand past events and people in the context of their own time, not of ours. Butterfield's writing was eloquent, his thought profound, and his temperament humane. His book, although old, is a genuine classic, to be treasured by all historians and readers of history. Highly recommended.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable explosion of Whig pretension,
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This review is from: The Whig Interpretation of History (Paperback)
On reading histories of the nineteenth century, one cannot help but note that the historians believed that all the clashes of history inevitably led to the apotheosis of virtue in the person of the Whig gentleman. Sir Butterfield adeptly demolishes such a naive, though entrenched, approach to historical documentation, noting that the chaos of history, whether provoked by the Reformation or by English politics, in no way consciously intended many of its results. Religious liberty, for instance, was not a conscious aim of the Protestant Reformation, but a byproduct of the brutal wars over religion which scarred Europe for a century. It is only in the deforming glasses of Whig interpreters that the Protestant Reformers appear as advocating everything whiggish.Butterfield does have a few of his own biases, speaking in the magisterial "we" when declaring our age a secularized one, or speaking of alleged Catholic irrationality. But these are minor faults, and easily accounted for, hardly marring lthis excellent essay.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good cautionary work,
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This review is from: The Whig Interpretation of History (Paperback)
At the time this book was originally published (1931) I suspect it had a lot of direct relevance for practicing historians. Today, it reads somewhat old fashioned. However, it's well written, if a bit formal, and certainly needs to be read by anyone who wants to keep his or her thinking about history on track. But see also the mention this book gets in Fischer's Historians' Fallacies. Even Sir Herbert doesn't escape that work unscathed.
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First Sentence:
IT has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of bygone generations he can lift up the fallen and beat down the proud, and by his exposures and his verdicts, his satire and his moral indignation, can punish unrighteousness, avenge the injured or reward the innocent. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
whig historian, abridged history, whig interpretation, historical story Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Martin Luther, The Underlying, Lord Acton, Middle Ages, Roman Catholic, Mary Tudor New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
IT has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of bygone generations he can lift up the fallen and beat down the proud, and by his exposures and his verdicts, his satire and his moral indignation, can punish unrighteousness, avenge the injured or reward the innocent. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
whig historian, abridged history, whig interpretation, historical story Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Martin Luther, The Underlying, Lord Acton, Middle Ages, Roman Catholic, Mary Tudor New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
100
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- The Muse of History and the Science of Culture by Robert L. Carneiro on 4 pages
- Morality and Architecture Revisited by David Watkin in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and page 1
- Meaning and Context by James Tully in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Postmodernism in History: Fear or Freedom? by Beverley Southgate in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- On Hallowed Ground: Abraham Lincoln and the Foundations of American History by Professor John Patrick Diggins in Front Matter, page 112, and Back Matter
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