The Purpose of the Past : Reflections on the Uses of History

History Is To Society What Memory Is To The Individual: Without It, We Don't Know Who We Are, And We Can't Make Wise Decisions About Where We Should Be Going. But While The Nature Of Memory Is A Constant, The Nature Of History Has Changed Radically Over The Past Forty Years, For Good But Also For Ill. Historian Wood Examines The Sea Change In The Field, Offers Insight Into What Historians Do, And How They Can Stumble. New Currents Of Thought Have Brought Refreshing Changes To The Discipline, Expanding Its Compass To Previously Underexamined And Undervalued Groups And Subjects. At The Same Time, However, Extreme, Even Nihilistic, Relativism Has Assaulted The Relevance, Even The Legitimacy, Of The Historian's Work, And The Divide Between Academic And Popular Historians Has Widened Into A Chasm, Separating Some Of The Field's Most Important New Ideas From Any Kind Of Real Audience.--from Publisher Description. Influence In History -- Anachronism In History -- Narrative History -- The Lessons Of History -- Continuity In History -- History And The New Historicism -- History As Fiction -- History As High Politics -- Microhistory -- Truth In History -- History Versus Political Theory -- History Without Ideas -- History And Heritage -- Comparative History -- Postmodern History -- Satirical History -- Multicultural History -- History And Myth -- History As Cultural Criticism -- Race, Class, Gender And History Writing -- Presentism In History. Gordon S. Wood. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Reflections on the historian's craft and its place in American culture, from a master craftsman History is to society what memory is to the individual: without it, we don't know who we are, and we can't make wise decisions about where we should be going. But while the nature of memory is a constant, the nature of history has changed radically over the past forty years, for good but also for ill. In The Purpose of the Past, historian Gordon S. Wood examines the sea change in the field through considerations of some of its most important historians and their works. His book serves as both a history of American history-neither wholly a celebration nor a critique-and an argument for its ongoing necessity. These are both the best of times and the worst of times for American history. New currents of thought have brought refreshing and vitally necessary changes to the discipline, expanding its compass to include previously underexamined and undervalued groups and subjects. At the same time, however, strains of extreme, even nihilistic, relativism have assaulted the relevance, even the legitimacy, of the historian's work. The divide between the work of academic and popular historians has widened into a chasm, separating some of the field's most important new ideas from what would give them much greater impact: any kind of real audience. But The Purpose of the Past is not another crotchety elegy for what history once was but sadly now isn't; it is also a celebration of what, at its best, it is, and a powerful argument for its ongoing necessity. Along the way The Purpose of the Past offers wonderful insight into what great historians do, and how they can stumble, and what strains of thought have dominated the marketplace of ideas in historical scholarship. A master historian's commanding assessment of his field, The Purpose of the Past will enlarge the capacity to appreciate history of anyone who reads it An erudite scholar and an elegant writer, Gordon S. Wood has won both numerous awards and a broad readership since the 1969 publication of his widely acclaimed The Creation of the American Republic. With The Purpose of the Past, Wood has essentially created a history of American history, assessing the current state of history vis-à-vis the work of some of its most important scholars-doling out praise and scorn with equal measure. In this wise, passionate defense of history's ongoing necessity, Wood argues that we cannot make intelligent decisions about the future without understanding our past. Wood offers a master's insight into what history-at its best-can be and reflects on its evolving and essential role in our culture. An analysis of the practice and art of historical documentation evaluates the contributions of some of the world's most important historians, explaining how the modern world is requiring key changes to the discipline of recording history. 30,000 first printing.