Recent Themes in Historical Thinking

Offering a look at trends in methods of historical inquiry, this book includes topics of historical inquiry as the impact of postmodernism on the field, the relationship between professional and popular history, and the importance of historical consciousness.

This book offers a detailed look at new trends in methods of historical inquiry.Through articles and interviews, the prominent historians featured in this collection comment on such wide-ranging topics of historical inquiry as the impact of postmodernism on the field, the relationship between professional and popular history, the importance of historical consciousness, and the limitations of the field in its current state. A special feature of this volume is a lively forum on counterfactuals - the might-have-beens of history. The volume in general and the forum in particular illustrates the value of ongoing conversation between historians in advancing historical investigation and enriching debate and discussion within and beyond the academic setting.The contributors are Jeremy Black, David Cannadine, Robert Cowley, Richard J. Evans, Edward Ingram, Richard Ned Lebow, Joseph S. Lucas, John Lukacs, C. Behan McCullagh, William H. McNeill, Allan Megill, Gavriel Rosenfeld, Peter Seixas, Beverley Southgate, Willie Thompson, and Sam Wineburg.