This practical but inspiring book considers what local history is, why researching it is valuable and rewarding, and how we should go about it. Issues addressed include: getting oral and documentary evidence; keeping records; the nature of data, information and knowledge; and their use to create the different products of local history research. Michael Williams is both a professional scientist and a local historian of long standing, and he uses both sides of his experience in a text that is at once rigorous about the historical process, and also a fascinating - and often moving - account of his adventures into the past of his own family and community. He demonstrates local history methodology through his research into ancestry, migration, work, war and religion in the towns and villages of England and Wales. It is richly illustrated throughout.

The idea that the period of social turbulence in the nineteenth century was a consequence of the emergence of the powerful Zulu kingdom under Shaka has been written about extensively as a central episode of southern African history. Considerable dynamic debate has focused on the idea that this period – the ‘mfecane’- left much of the interior depopulated, thereby justifying white occupation. One view is that ‘the time of troubles’ owed more to the Delagoa Bay Slave trade and the demands of the labour-hungry Cape colonists than to Shaka’s empire building. But is there sufficient evidence to support the argument? The Mfecane Aftermath investigates the very nature of historical debate and examines the uncertain foundations of much of the previous historiography.

In an attempt to counteract the doom and gloom of the economic crisis and the politicians' overused dictum that 'there is no alternative', this interdisciplinary collection presents a number of alternative worlds that were conceived over the course of the last century. While change at the macro level was the focus of most of the ideological struggles of the twentieth century, the real impetus for change came from the blue-sky thinking of scientists, engineers, architects, sociologists, planners and writers, all of whom imagined alternatives to the status quo. Following a roughly chronological order from the turn of the nineteenth century to the present, this book explores the dreams, plans and hopes as well as the nightmares and fears that are an integral part of alternative thinking in the Western hemisphere. The alternative worlds at the centre of the individual essays can each be seen as crucial to the history of the past one hundred years. While these alternative worlds reflect their particular cultural context, they also inform historical developments in a wider sense and continue to resonate in the present.

This is the first study to highlight the significance of nuns' writings in early modern Germany. Combining scholarly analysis with illuminating case studies - such as an abbess's account of the Reformation, a prioress's diary from the Thirty Years' War, and a biography of a fifteenth-century visionary - Charlotte Woodford introduces the much neglected female historians of the era, and sets their writings in an historical and literary context.

In Rethinking German History, first published in 1987, Richard J. Evans argues for a social-historical approach to the German past that pays equal attention to objective social structures and subjective values and experiences. If German history has been seen as an exception to the 'normal' development of Western society, this is not least because historians have until recently largely failed to look beyond the world of high politics, institutions, organizations and ideologies to broader historical problems of German society and German mentalities. By applying and adapting approaches learned from French and British social history as they have been developed over the last quarter of a century, it is possible to achieve a rethinking of German history which does away with many of the textbook myths that have encrusted the historiogrpahy of Germany for so long. This book will be valuable for students of German history and politics, and brings together essays widely used in teaching. Its broad coverage of social history will also be useful to all those interested in contemporary historiography or the comparative study of European history.

First published in 1934, Artists in Uniform confronts what the author describes as 'two of the worst features of the Soviet experiment' following Lenin's death - bigotry and bureaucratism - and shows how they have functioned in the sphere of arts and letters. It is divided into three parts: The Artist's International; A Literary Inquisition; and Art and the Marxian Philosophy.

Despite increased interest in recent years in the role of race in Western culture, scholars have neglected much of the body of work produced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by black intellectuals. For example, while DuBois' thoughts about Africa may be familiar to contemporary academics, those of his important precursors and contemporaries are not widely known. Similarly, although contemporary figures such as Martin Bernal, Molefi Assante, and other "Afrocentrists" are the subject of heated debate, such debates are rarely illuminated by an awareness of the traditions that preceded them. Race and The Writing of History redresses this imbalance, using Bernal's Black Athena and its critics as an introduction to the historical inquiries of African-American intellectuals and many of their African counterparts. Keita examines the controversial legacy of writing history in America and offers a new perspective on the challenge of building new historiographies and epistemologies. As a result, this book sheds new light on how ideas about race and racism have shaped the stories we tell about ourselves.

Two eminent scholars of historiography examine the concept of national identity through the key multi-volume histories of the last two hundred years. Starting with Hume's History of England (1754-62), they explore the work of British historians whose work had a popular readership and an influence on succeeding generations of British children.

In the early 1690s Roger North was preparing to remove from London to Rougham, Norfolk, where he planned to continue his search for truth, which for him meant knowledge of nature, including human nature. But this search was interrupted by three events. First, between c.1704 and the early part of 1706, he read Newton's book on rational (quantitative) mechanics and, afterwards, his book on optics in Clarke's Latin translation. Second, towards the latter part of 1706, he and Clarke, a Norfolk clergyman, corresponded about matters relating to Newton's two books, after which Clarke removed to London and the correspondence ceased. Third, in 1712 North received a letter from Clarke, requesting him to read and respond to his new publication on the philosophy of the Godhead. As Kassler details, each of these events presented a number of challenges to North's values, as well as the way of philosophising he had learned as a student and practitioner of the common law. Because he never made public his responses to the challenges, her book also includes editions of North's notes on reading Newton's books, as well as what now remains of the 1706 and later correspondence with Clarke. In addition, she presents analyses of some of North's 'second thoughts' about the issues raised in the notes and 1706 correspondence and, from an examination of Clarke's main writings, provides a context for understanding the correspondence relating to the 1712 book.

How and why did Europe rise to world pre-eminence? Providing an overview of this central historical conundrum of modern times, Historians Debate the Rise of the West enables students to grasp major scholars' evaluations of the biggest picture of all: how Western civilization fits into modern world history. Most historians who write in this area subscribe to a combination of interpretations set forward by scholars of the field, like David Landes, Jared Diamond or Kenneth Pomeranz. But it is often difficult to understand the position they are coming from, and for readers to understand clearly how Europe made the transition from merely one of many developing countries into the world's first industrial power. In this volume, Jonathan Daly introduces us to the main interpretations of Europe's rise that have been proposed over the past half-century and presents the views of these historians and schools of scholarship, advocating for each point of view and letting each author speak for him or herself through the inclusion of brief textual selections.Also included are interesting biographical details for each scholar, as well as a list of further reading for each chapter and a dozen maps created especially for this volume. An ideal introduction for students of world history.

Korea used to be the forgotten war. Now, however, experts widely view it as a pivotal moment in the history of the Cold War, while its legacy still scars contemporary East Asian politics.

The sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War is a fitting time both to assess the current state of historiography on the conflict and to showcase new research on its different dimensions. This book contains six essays by leading experts in the field. These essays explore all aspects of the war, from collective security and alliance relations, to home front politics and historical memory. They are also international in scope, focusing not just on the familiar Western belligerents but also on the actions of the two Koreas, China and the Soviet Union.

These stimulating essays shed new light on various aspects of the Korean War experience, as well as examining why the war remains so important to the politics of the region.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Strategic Studies."

This is the first complete translation in over 150 years of what many consider to be Hegel's most accessible work. The Lectures on the Philosophy of History are a tour-de-force, an audacious attempt to summarize world history and the purpose behind it. Was Hegel the progenitor of the power-state that unified Germany became? The Lectures, the mature fruit of Hegel's thought, provide many relevant clues. Hegel saw the growth of freedom as the purpose behind history, but he also argued that such freedom could not take root and flourish apart from a state able to impose and enforce the rule of law.

Featuring work by researchers in the fields of early modern studies, Italian studies, ecclesiastical history and historiography, this volume of essays adds to a rich corpus of literature on Renaissance and early modern historiography, bringing a unique approach to several of the problems currently facing the field. Essays fall into three categories: the tensions and challenges of writing history in Renaissance Italy; the importance of intellectual, philosophical and political contexts for the reading and writing of history in renaissance and early modern Europe; and the implications of genre for the reading and writing of history. By collecting essays that cut across a broad cross-section of the disciplines of history and historiography, the book is able to offer solutions, encourage discussion, and engage in ongoing debates that bear direct relevance for our understanding of the origins of modern historical practices. This approach also allows the contributors to engage with critical questions concerning the continued relevance of history for political and social life in the past and in the present.

No biblical historian is included in the standard dictionaries of historians. Banks study examines the boundaries as well as the links that exists between history writing in biblical studies and the practice of history in university departments of history. She argues that while the influence of the profession of writing history is apparent, there are countervailing forces as well. The presupposition that the Bible is a book of history conditions the outcome of historical research in biblical studies. Banks argues that Julius Wellhausens history of Israel set in motion the general tendency toward ever greater congruence between historiography in biblical studies and in academic departments of history; that the initial tension caused by Wellhausens work produced a reaction which effectively stalled the movement toward accommodation between secular, academic history and biblical studies; and that a new generation of scholars applying the methods used by secular historians has revived and continued the tendency to promote the practice of secular, academic historiography in biblical studies. Banks applies her method to Wellhausen, Martin Noth, John Bright, and Thomas Thompson.

Science in the Changing World, first published in 1933, contains a series of broadcasted presentations on the relationship between science and the development of European civilisation in the first half of the 20th century. Specifically, each talk attempts to reflect the crisis through which the world seemed to be passing at the time, and to make an analysis of those forces of transformation in science, art, economics, and social life which were associated most closely with the advent of the 'scientific' century. Included among the presenters are such eminent and diverse thinkers as Julian Huxley, Bertrand Russell and Hilaire Belloc. Science at Your Service: First published in 1945, this collection of twelve BBC broadcasts focuses on the influence of science in everyday life, and demonstrates that not all science is remote and theoretical. Each speaker deals with some aspect of mid-20th century scientific advance as it related to subjects of practical importance, from textiles and tunnels to fishing and ship design. Offering a glimpse into the attitudes towards science current in the middle of the Second World War, this brief and accessible collection will be of interest to cultural historians as well as to the general science enthusiast.

The Special Theory of Relativity: Based on a short course of lectures delivered in the late 1930s, this short book presents the theory of Special Relativity by formulating a redefinition of the measurement of length, and thus will appeal to students of physics who wish to think through Einstein's thought without the encumbrance of quasi-scientific concepts and language. Relativity: A Very Elementary Exposition: This brief lecture, delivered in October 1921 and published for the first time in 1925, offers an explanation of Einstein's theory of Special Relativity for the non-scientist, giving a general overview that does justice both to the actual physics involved, and the wider implications of this revolutionary discovery of the 20th century.

This book offers an overview of a huge range of scientific achievements in the 20th century, specifically in the field of applied science. The majority of the essays originally appeared in papers and journals such as the Daily Worker, New Statesman and Nation, Science and Society and Nature. Insofar as one theme runs through them, it is the application of scientific knowledge for the benefit of human society. The author is unashamed to present his perspective on some of the topics discussed in the context of his commitment to Marxism. This collection of essays, first published in 1947, thus offers an intriguing glimpse of mid-20th century attitudes towards science, and specifically to the possibilities of a scientific approach to the full spectrum of human endeavour as they were perceived in the aftermath of the Second World War, at a time when the Soviet Union and its creed still seemed ascendant.

This volume, first published in 1921, presents a series of portraits of Einstein, thus offering glimpses in the character and private reflections of the man who changed the course of modern science. Intended neither as a biography, nor as a resume of Einsteinian physics, Einstein: The Searcher instead focusses on Einstein's relationship with the scientific project as he himself conceived it, and so is still of contemporary significance for those puzzled by the spirit of scientific enquiry.

Drawing on philosophical, neurological and cultural answers to the question of what constitutes a body, this book explores the interaction between mechanistic beliefs about human bodies and the successive technologies that have established and illustrated these beliefs. At the same time, it draws upon newer perspectives on technology and embodied human thought in order to highlight the limitations and inadequacies of such beliefs and suggest alternative perspectives. In so doing, it provides a position from which widely held assumptions about our relationship with technology can be understood and questioned, by both showing how these presuppositions have emerged and developed, and examining the extent to which they are dependent upon our grasp of specific technologies. Illustrated with examples from the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, as well as the industrial age and the recent eras of informatics, gene science and nanotechnology, Embodiment and Mechanisation highlights the ways in which technological changes have led to shifts in the definition of machine and body, investigating their shared underlying belief that all matter can be reduced to a common substance. From clockwork and cadavers to engines and energy, this volume reveals our long-standing fascination with and enduring commitment to the idea that bodies are machines and that machines are in some sense bodies. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the humanities and social sciences with interests in the sociology of science and technology, embodiment, cultural studies and the history of ideas.

In 1543, Copernicus publicly defended geokinetic and heliocentric universe. This book examines why and how he became a Copernican and what his affirmation of heliocentrism means in the context of the Scientific Revolution. Close reading of Copernicus' texts and examination of his sociocultural context reveals his commitment to the Platonist program of True Astronomy, which is to discover the well-proportioned, harmonious universe, hidden beyond visible appearances, but accessible through mathematical reasoning. The principal goal of the work is to show that the hypothesis of Copernicus' Platonism brings unity and internal coherence to his project and provides historical background of his contributions to the Scientific Revolution.

Over a century after the death of Queen Victoria, historians are busy re-appraising her age and achievements. However, our understanding of the Victorian era is itself a part of history, shaped by changing political, cultural and intellectual fashions. From widespread reaction against Victorian values led by the Bloomsbury set, through to the rehabilitation of Victorian literature and architecture in the 1950s and 1960s, down to the present enthusiasm for film and television adaptations of Charles Dickens and George Eliot, our image of the Victorians has changed a great deal. The Victorians since 1901 provides a much-needed survey of these trends in modern historiography. Bringing together a group of international scholars from the disciplines of history, English literature, art history and cultural studies, it identifies and assesses the principal influences on twentieth-century attitudes towards the Victorians. Developments in academia, popular culture, public history and the internet are covered in this important and stimulating collection, and the final chapters anticipate future global trends in interpretations of the Victorian era, making an essential volume for students of Victorian Studies. -- .

For over thirty years, Carol Kammen's On Doing Local History has been a valuable guide to professional and "amateur" historians alike. First published in 1986, revised in 2003, this book offers not only discussion of practical matters, but also a deeper reflection on local, public history, what it means, and why it is done. It is used in classrooms and found on the shelves of local historians across the U.S. The third edition features: *Updates to chapters that focus on the current concerns and situation of local historians *A new chapter on how the field of history cooperates with other arts *A new chapter on writing a congregational history *Updated references With the same passion (and now even more experience) that drove her to write the first edition, Kammen has brought her seminal work into today's context for the next generation of local historians. The new edition ensures that this classic will continue to move anyone interested in public history towards a better understanding of why they do what they do and how it benefits their communities.

For over thirty years, Carol Kammen's On Doing Local History has been a valuable guide to professional and "amateur" historians alike. First published in 1986, revised in 2003, this book offers not only discussion of practical matters, but also a deeper reflection on local, public history, what it means, and why it is done. It is used in classrooms and found on the shelves of local historians across the U.S. The third edition features: *Updates to chapters that focus on the current concerns and situation of local historians *A new chapter on how the field of history cooperates with other arts *A new chapter on writing a congregational history *Updated references With the same passion (and now even more experience) that drove her to write the first edition, Kammen has brought her seminal work into today's context for the next generation of local historians. The new edition ensures that this classic will continue to move anyone interested in public history towards a better understanding of why they do what they do and how it benefits their communities.

Though they have long been portrayed as arch rivals, Alan Perreiah here argues that humanists and scholastics were in fact working in complementary ways toward some of the same goals. After locating the two traditions within the early modern search for the perfect language, this study re-defines the lines of disagreement between them. For humanists the perfect language was a revived Classical Latin. For scholastics it was a practical logic adapted to the needs of education. Succeeding chapters examine the concepts of linguistic meaning and truth in Lorenzo Valla's Dialectical Disputations and Juan Luis Vives' De disciplinis. The third chapter offers a new interpretation of Vives' Adversus pseudodialecticos as itself an exercise in scholastic sophistry. Against this humanistic background, the study takes up the concepts of meaning and truth in Paul of Venice's Logica parva, a popular scholastic textbook in the Quattrocento. To advance recent research on language pedagogy in the Renaissance, it clarifies the connections between truth and translation and shows how scholastic logic performed an essential task in the early modern university: it was a translational language that enabled students who spoke mainly their regional vernaculars to learn the language of university discourse. A conclusion reviews some major themes of the study-e.g., linguistic determinism and relativity, vernacularity and translation, semantical vs. epistemic truth-and evaluates the achievements of humanism and scholasticism according to appropriate criteria for a perfect language.