Why History? [Hardcover]

Keith Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0415206324 | ISBN-13: 978-0415206327 | Edition: 1

Why History is an introduction to the issue of history and ethics. Designed to provoke discussion, the book asks whether a good knowledge and understanding of the past is a good thing to have and if so, why. In the context of postmodern times, Why History suggests that the goal of 'learning lessons from the past' is actually learning lessons from stories written by historians and others. If the past as history has no foundation, can anything ethical be gained from history?
Why History presents liberating challenges to history and ethics, proposing that we have reached an emancipatory moment which is well beyond the 'end of history'.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Keith Jenkins is Reader in History at the Chichester Institute of Higher Education. He is the author of Rethinking History (1991) and On "What is History?" (1995) and the editor of The Postmodern History Reader (1997), all published by Routledge.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415206324
• ISBN-13: 978-0415206327
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,181,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tendentious, June 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Why History? (Paperback)

This book is deeply marred by its bitter attack on Richard Evans, the Cambridge historian who testified against David Irving in the recent trial in England. One should place Evans's account of this trial (Lying about Hitler) against Jenkins's view of Evans.

If Jenkins did not worship his intellectual heroes so slavishly, or despise those with whom he disagrees so profoundly, he might have written a better book. One finds the adjective "brilliant" applied to everyone who agrees with Jenkins, while Evans is "someone to forget" (p. 201). This sort of writing suggests that Jenkins may be the author soon forgotten.