Carr and Elton are still the starting point for the vast majority of A level and introductory Higher Education courses on the nature of history. Jenkins provides a close reading of both, pointing out why historians and students need to go beyond their outdated 'modernist' thinking. Jenkins proposes new guides appropriate to the historian Hayden White. These seminal theorists are in line with today's postmodernist thinking, and bursting with clever and interesting ideas. Through their writings Jenkins introduces a range of arguments which he feels ought to be at the centre of any debate about the nature of history. Radical and controversial, On 'What is History?', like Jenkins' Rethinking History, will be invaluable student introduction to contemporary debates.