A history of religion s role in the American liberal tradition through the eyes of seven transformative thinkers Today we associate liberal thought and politics with secularism. When we argue over whether the nation s founders meant to keep religion out of politics, the godless side is said to be liberal. But the role of religion in American politics has always been far less simplistic than today s debates would suggest. In "The Religion of Democracy," historian Amy Kittelstrom shows how religion and democracy have worked together as universal ideals in American culture and as guides to moral action and to the social practice of treating one another as equals who deserve to be free. The first people in the world to call themselves liberals were New England Christians in the early republic. Inspired by their religious belief in a God-given freedom of conscience, these Americans enthusiastically embraced the democratic values of equality and liberty, giving shape to the liberal tradition that would remain central to our politics and our way of life. "The Religion of Democracy" re-creates the liberal conversation from the eighteenth century to the twentieth by tracing the lived connections among seven transformative thinkers through what they read and wrote, where they went, whom they knew, and howthey expressed their opinions from John Adams to William James to Jane Addams; from Boston to Chicago to Berkeley. Sweeping and ambitious, "The Religion of Democracy" is a lively narrative of quintessentially American ideas as they were forged, debated, and remade across our history."

The presocratic philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (490-420 BCE) was the founder of the sophistic movement, was famously agnostic towards the existence and nature of the gods and the proponent of the doctrine that 'man is the measure of all things.' Still relevant to contemporary society, Protagoras is in many ways a precursor of the postmodern movement. In the brief fragments that survive, he lays the foundation for relativism, agnosticism, the significance of rhetoric, a pedagogy for critical thinking and a conception of the human being as a social construction. This accessible, introductory survey by Daniel Silvermintz covers Protogoras's life, ideas, and lasting legacy. Each chapter interprets one of the surviving fragments and draw connections with related ideas forwarded by other sophists and show relevance to an area of knowledge: epistemology, ethics, education, and sociology.

Contesting History is an authoritative guide to the positive and negative applications of the past in the public arena and what this signifies for the meaning of history more widely. Using a global, non-Western model, Jeremy Black examines the employment of history by the state, the media, the national collective memory and others and considers its fundamental significance in how we understand the past. Moving from public life pre-1400 to the struggle of ideologies in the 20th century and contemporary efforts to find meaning in historical narratives, Jeremy Black incorporates a great deal of original material on governmental, social and commercial influences on the public use of history. This includes a host of in-depth case studies from different periods of history around the world, and coverage of public history in a wider range of media, including TV and film. Readers are guided through this material by an expansive introduction, section headings, chapter conclusions and a selected further reading list. Written with eminent clarity and breadth of knowledge, Contesting History is a key text for all students of public history and anyone keen to know more about the nature of history as a discipline and concept.

""Time Maps" extends beyond all of the old cliches about linear, circular, and spiral patterns of historical process and provides us with models of the actual legends used to map history. It is a brilliant and elegant exercise in model building that provides new insights into some of the old questions about philosophy of history, historical narrative, and what is called straight history."-Hayden White, University of California, Santa Cruz
Who were the first people to inhabit North America? Does the West Bank belong to the Arabs or the Jews? Why are racists so obsessed with origins? Is a seventh cousin still a cousin? Why do some societies name their children after dead ancestors?
As Eviatar Zerubavel demonstrates in "Time Maps," we cannot answer burning questions such as these without a deeper understanding of how we envision the past. In a pioneering attempt to map the structure of our collective memory, Zerubavel considers the cognitive patterns we use to organize the past in our minds and the mental strategies that help us string together unrelated events into coherent and meaningful narratives, as well as the social grammar of battles over conflicting interpretations of history. Drawing on fascinating examples that range from Hiroshima to the Holocaust, from Columbus to Lucy, and from ancient Egypt to the former Yugoslavia, Zerubavel shows how we construct historical origins; how we tie discontinuous events together into stories; how we link families and entire nations through genealogies; and how we separate distinct historical periods from one another through watersheds, such as the invention of fire or the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Most people think the Roman Empire ended in 476, even though it lasted another 977 years in Byzantium. Challenging such conventional wisdom, "Time Maps" will be must reading for anyone interested in how the history of our world takes shape.

An exploration of twentieth-century conceptions of time and their relation to artistic form. In Architectures of Time, Sanford Kwinter offers a critical guide to the modern history of time and to the interplay between the physical sciences and the arts. Tracing the transformation of twentieth-century epistemology to the rise of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, Kwinter explains how the demise of the concept of absolute time, and of the classical notion of space as a fixed background against which things occur, led to field theory and a physics of the "event." He suggests that the closed, controlled, and mechanical world of physics gave way to the approximate, active, and qualitative world of biology as a model of both scientific and metaphysical explanation. Kwinter examines theory of time and space in Einstein's theories of relativity and shows how these ideas were reflected in the writings of the sculptor Umberto Boccioni, the town planning schema of the Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and the writings of Franz Kafka. He argues that the writings of Boccioni and the visionary architecture of Sant'Elia represent the earliest and most profound deployments of the concepts of field and event. In discussing Kafka's work, he moves away from the thermodynamic model in favor of the closely related one of Bergsonian duree, or virtuality. He argues that Kafka's work manifests a coherent cosmology that can be understood only in relation to the constant temporal flux that underlies it.

This collection of personal narratives by former officers of the Coordinating Council for Women in History weaves together past and present in women s history, and women in the historical profession. Recording the diverse paths taken to become historians, essays describe how a group of women negotiated the often competing demands of being a woman, a professional, and a political activist during the turbulent 1960s through the challenges of the 1990s."

What are the ethical responsibilities of the historian in an age of mass murder and hyperreality? Can one be postmodern and still write history? For whom should history be written?
Edith Wyschogrod animates such questions through the passionate figure of the "heterological historian." Realizing the philosophical impossibility of ever recovering "what really happened," this historian nevertheless acknowledges a moral imperative to speak for those who have been rendered voiceless, to give countenance to those who have become faceless, and hope to the desolate. Wyschogrod also weighs the impact of modern archival methods, such as photographs, film, and the Internet, which bring with them new constraints on the writing of history and which mandate a new vision of community. Drawing on the works of continental philosophers, historiographers, cognitive scientists, and filmmakers, Wyschogrod creates a powerful new framework for the understanding of history and the ethical duties of the historian.

A milestone work in Christian theology--available again! "As a critic of the contemporary theological scene, Van Harvey has few, if any, competitors. This is nowhere clearer than in The Historian and the Believer . . . the classic discussion of its topic. Rich in insight and penetrating in argument, it is one book that belongs in the library of every theologian and seminarian." -- Schubert M. Ogden, author of Doing Theology Today Is it possible to be both a historian and a Christian? Van Harvey's classic The Historian and the Believer posed that question when it was first published. In this printing, the author has provided a new introduction in which he reflects on how he would reframe his original argument in order to bring out more fully the basic theological intention underlying his view that Christian faith cannot rest on dubious historical claims. From reviews of the first edition: "Probably the most interesting piece of American theological writing to appear this year." -- John Reumann, Union Seminary Quarterly Review

The first sustained study of Leopold's seminal book as well as a work of art, philosophy, and social commentary.

Art and Public History: Approaches, Opportunities, and Challenges examines the relationship between art and public history, outlining opportunities, challenges, and insights drawn from recent initiatives. With a special eye towards audience engagement and challenging historical narratives, all of the case studies and projects combine historical interpretation with contemporary and historical forms of visual art in unique and insightful ways. In addition to emphasizing the kind of practical advice found in the best case studies, this volume also offers a critical discussion of the concepts, tools, skills and technologies that contribute to fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration. These issues are addressed through sections on projects related to historical artworks; contemporary art and artists; and public art and the built environment. It addresses how public historians can incorporate art into their practice by outlining opportunities, challenges, and insights drawn from recent projects in the United States and Britain. These projects have taken place across a variety of platforms, including local and national history museums; art galleries; digital archives; classrooms; historical markers; and public art projects. The case studies incorporate the perspectives of different stakeholders, including public historians, artists, and audiences. The book will provide both public history practitioners and academics with useful guidance on how art can be integrated into public history initiatives, through critical discussion of tools, strategies, and technologies that contribute to fruitful collaboration and audience engagement across a variety of platforms. Readers will walk away with new ideas, strategies, and practical considerations for interdisciplinary projects to attract audiences in new ways.

This book presents an intriguing portrait of Roger Scruton and his philosophy. Roger Scruton is one of the outstanding British philosophers of the post-war years. Why then is he at best ignored and at worst reviled? Part of the reason is that he is an unapologetic conservative in the tradition of Edmund Burke. That conservative instinct was sharpened during the Paris riots of 1968. From that point on Scruton set himself the task of stridently opposing what he has since termed 'the culture or repudiation'. In so doing he targeted liberals in the tradition of Russell and Mill, existentialists like Sartre and post modernists in the fashion of Foucault.Here is a brilliant description of Scruton's life and work and a careful analysis of his central ideas. Scruton defends an Hegelian and Burkean view of human nature, one founded on allegiance to the State as the guarantor of tangible freedom. He thus opposes any and all variations of the social contract theory, liberal or existential individualism or philosophical theories of the 'authentic' self in isolation from its kind. In recent years his conservative notion of the nation state has been used to reflect upon and criticise the European Union, the United Nations and the idea that the Middle East can be reformed along Western democratic lines.Scruton, argues the author of this book, is the one British intellectual who has courageously rowed against the tide of liberal conviction and has arrived at political conclusions the truth of which is becoming more and more obvious. This book argues conclusively that Roger Scruton is a prophet for our times.

This is the definitive companion to the study of the philosophy of history. It provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to all the major philosophical concepts, issues and debates raised by history. Ideal for undergraduate students in philosophy and history, the structure and content closely reflect the way the philosophy of history is studied and taught. The book offers a lucid treatment of existing approaches to the philosophy of history and also breaks new ground by extending the major debates in this area of growing philosophical interest. Subjects examined include: the centrality of historical language; objections to historical truth and realism; the relationship between the philosophy of history and the philosophy of science; historical interpretation and narrative; philosophical accounts of historical reasoning from the evidence. The text clearly presents and criticizes the arguments of the major philosophers and historians who have contributed to our understanding of the philosophy of history. Mark Day's rigorous analysis is supplemented by useful pedagogical features, including key examples from historical and philosophical writing; summaries of core debates; study questions; and guides to further reading.

In recent years historians in many different parts of the world have sought to transnationalize and globalize their perspectives on the past. Despite all these efforts to gain new global historical visions, however, the debates surrounding this movement have remained rather provincial in scope. Global History, Globally addresses this lacuna by surveying the state of global history in different world regions. Divided into three distinct but tightly interweaved sections, the book's chapters provide regional surveys of the practice of global history on all continents, review some of the research in four core fields of global history and consider a number of problems that global historians have contended with in their work. The authors hail from various world regions and are themselves leading global historians. Collectively, they provide an unprecedented survey of what today is the most dynamic field in the discipline of history. As one of the first books to systematically discuss the international dimensions of global historical scholarship and address a wealth of questions emanating from them, Global History, Globally is a must-read book for all students and scholars of global history.

From thoughtful pieces on the historian's role to striking insights into America's past and present to trenchant observations on the international scene, Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees. Here is a splendid body of work, the story of a lifetime spent "practicing history."

With selections drawn from both constitutional and cultural history, this book invites students to examine evidence as historians do. Documents are arranged in a straightforward chronological order, allowing instructors to develop their own thematic emphasis and orientation. Introductions give students the essential information they need to understand the documents.

Most American schoolbooks claim that the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II confused the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes for the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a fabulous, fair-skinned priest king of ancient times who had promised to return, which is why Moctezuma voluntarily surrendered his mighty empire. In the past, the tale of Quetzalcoatl has inspired many people to speculate about pre-Columbian invaders from the Old World. It has also been abused as another presumed proof of white supremacy. Indigenous traditions, however, saw a Mexican Messiah who played an important part in constructing the Mexican national identity. This book demonstrates that the story of the returning god is a product of "fake news" uttered by Cortes. It does so by analysing the most important sources of the Quetzalcoatl-tale. A systematic context-enlargement that also includes ethnographic information and contemporary history reveals why and how Cortes constructed this story, and why and how the Aztec elite adopted it. This method proves to be an epistemological tool which allows researchers to identify pre-Hispanic information in ethnohistorical texts of colonial times. As a result, the true Quetzalcoatl behind the legend comes to light.

This volume examines the values that have historically guided the negotiation of identity, both practical and ideal, in Chinese Confucian culture, considers how these values play into the conception and exercise of authority, and assesses their contemporary relevance in a rapidly globalizing world. Included are essays that explore the rule of ritual in classical Confucian political discourse; parental authority in early medieval tales; authority in writings on women; authority in the great and long-beloved folk novel of China Journey to the West; and the anti-Confucianism of Lu Xun, the twentieth-century writer and reformer. By examining authority in cultural context, these essays shed considerable light on the continuities and contentions underlying the vibrancy of Chinese culture.

This volume provides an overview of theories of cultural memory that are intensively discussed in cultural studies and humanities disciplines such as history, sociology, literary studies, art history, and media studies. Cultural memory encompasses all rituals, institutions and practices through which communities establish their identity and common origin, which are challenged by the digital turn today. The book presents, on the one hand, basic arguments by the most important memory theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries and, on the other, exemplary descriptions of the most significant forms of cultural memory.

From a Traditionalist perspective, the cultural history of the Modern Era amounts to the genesis of the Dark Age. The Traditionalist meta-historical narrative deconstructs the modernist myth of "historic progress" as an anti-intellectual superstition. It exposes the quintessential features of Modernity - namely, secular nihilism, historical materialism, socio-political egalitarianism, and collective narcissism - as structural inversions of Traditional values. The historic accumulation of these inversions set the stage for a final showdown between Tradition and Modernity. In terms of ancient prophecy and Traditionalist philosophy, the Great War represents the apocalyptic sunset of the world of Tradition. This work follows the forgotten path of the philosophia perennis to trace the historic onset of the Dark Age. It clears away a century-deep deposit of "progressive" illusions and "politically-correct" axioms. The restored road of Traditional thought will lead a new generation of scholars to their rightful inheritance: an intellectual tabula rasa on which history can be written anew.