A Concise Companion to History
Edited by Ulinka Rublack
- Sixteen essays by leading scholars in the field addressing the key themes in current historical scholarship
- Shows how we might use comparative and world history in thinking about the future of the discipline
- Addresses both key perennial themes such as power, commerce, and causation, as well as new areas such as emotions, ethnicity, and the environment
What is our relationship with the past? A quiet revolution has transformed the ways in which History provides us with answers. Indeed, not so long ago the very question might have seemed odd. But in recent decades the solid moorings to which History was seemingly tethered have proved less secure than earlier supposed. That realization has produced some discomfiture, but also many more opportunities for approaching worlds with which we have lost connection.
No single book can hope to reflect all the ways in which History has ‘changed with the times’ nor can, or should, a volume with numerous contributors speak with one voice. Yet the Companion does range widely, addressing key themes and structures from new areas of enquiry as well as providing fresh treatment of established fields; and it does mark a significant departure in a genre still shaped by stories that are predominantly Western. It reflects a practice of history that seeks global connections and pioneers a sustained dialogue between historians specializing in the history of particular continents. It does not, in the sharply ridiculing phrase of one historian, compare the Ashanti empire to the British empire. But the scholars writing in this book build on the much greater awareness that ‘Western’ achievements and claims to modernity were often not as unique as once portrayed, and that the history of interconnections and multi-centric developments of different civilisations is crucial for a proper critical understanding of the past.
Escorted by some of the world’s leading historians, readers of the Companion will find pages an indispensable guide to what history is today.
Table of Contents
Preface, Ulinka Rublack
Part I: Writing History
1:History and World History, Christopher Bayly
2:Causation, R. Bin Wong
3:The Status of Historical Knowledge, Ulinka Rublack
4:Historians, Donald R. Kelley and Bonnie G. Smith
Part II: Themes and Structures
5:Commerce, Kenneth Pomeranz
6:Power, Chris Clark
7:Communication, Peter Burke
8:Population, Pat Thane
9:Gender, Dorothy Ko
10:Culture, Megan Vaughan
11:Ethnicity, Elizabeth Buettner
12:Science, Pamela H. Smith
13:Environmental History, John R. McNeill
14:Religion, Miri Rubin
15:Emotions, Eiko Ikegami
16:The Power of Ideas, Anthony Grafton
Acknowledgements
Index
Reviews
The stellar cast of authors… [introduce] the reader to some of the most exciting developments in the field of history over the past three decades…. the book achieves a great deal. – Stefan Berger, Times Literary Supplement
Ambitious…rich and challenging…makes some significant contributions – Alix Green, Reviews in History
How has the writing of history changed over the past half century? What are the topics and issues that interest historians today? These questions, and many more, are addressed in the Concise Companion, a pioneering and exceptionally stimulating volume of essays which indicate some of the ways in which the challenges of globalization are forcing historians to rethink their approaches to the past. – Sir John Elliott, Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford
Ulinka Rublack has created a true companion volume for readers of recent and current historical writing. In an astonishing feat of editorship, she brings together some of the best living historians and some insuperable essays on the state and drift of the subject. – Felipe Fernández-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor of History, Notre Dame University
Oxford University Press 2011; 2012
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