The Muse of History and the Science of Culture

Is history more than (in Boswell's words) a `chronological series of remarkable events'? Does it have a pattern? Is it fraught with `meaning'? Can we discern its trends? What determines its course? In short, can a substantial and coherent philosophy of history be devised that offers answers to these questions? These issues, which have intrigued -and bedeviled - historians for centuries, are explored in this thoughtful book. Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 1. THEPHILOSOPHYOF HISTORY......Page 14 2. THE CHANGING FACES OF HISTORY......Page 26 3. THE THORNY THICKETS OF HISTORY......Page 60 4. WHATDRIVES THE ENGINE OF HISTORY?......Page 96 5. THE GREATMAN AND IDEASAS PRIMEMOVERS......Page 122 6. How TO TURN HISTORY INTO SCIENCE......Page 158 7. THECULTURE PROCESS AND ITSDETERMINANTS......Page 190 8 . ARE THERE LAWS OF HISTORY?......Page 212 9. PROPOSED LAWS OF CULTURE......Page 246 CAST OF CHARACTERS......Page 270 REFERENCES......Page 280 INDEX......Page 302

By examining the statements historians make about their discipline and methodologies, Carneiro (anthropology, American Museum of Natural History) draws out the differences between the historical and the anthropological approaches to the past, and the conflicting interpretations that emerge as a consequence. The core of the book consists of a series of lectures he delivered at the American Museum of Natural History. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR