Herbert Butterfield and the Interpretation of History (Studies in Modern History)

This book examines successive stages in the development of the thought of Sir Herbert Butterfield in relation to fundamental issues in the science of history. In a carefully nuanced way it lays bare the unspoken motivations and hidden tensions in Butterfield's debate with himself and with a host of contemporary historians in the period between 1924-79. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1 The Romantic Imagination......Page 29 2 Butterfield’s Critique of the Whig Interpretation......Page 43 3 Butterfield’s Critique of Acton......Page 61 4 Machiavelli and the English Tradition......Page 76 5 Expository Historiography......Page 94 6 Providence......Page 107 7 Technical History......Page 125 8 Butterfield’s Critique of Interpretations......Page 143 9 The Three Ways or Levels of History......Page 161 10 The Wiles Lectures......Page 178 11 Butterfield’s Critique of Namier......Page 194 12 Challenges and Resolutions......Page 211 Conclusions......Page 226 Notes......Page 230 General Bibliography......Page 273 Index......Page 288 '...Intensely relevant to reflection about the historical discipline and the humanities in general... It deftly handles the twists and turns in Butterfield's emerging overall conception' - Professor Harry Van Dyke, Redeemer University College, Ontario, Canada