Main Trends in History

Download or read book Main Trends in History written by Geoffrey Barraclough and published by Holmes & Meier Publishers. This book was released on 1979 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The vast social and political upheaval of the Second World War inaugurated a new era of historical studies. History, as a discipline, exploded in numerous new directions as young historians questioned inherited concepts and approaches that no longer seemes relevant. Geoffrey Barraclough, in this thoughtful overview of the present state of the historian's craft, summarizes the development and access the ferment that has characterized historical studies in the last three decades. There has been, first of all, a search for new concepts and methodologies that transcend national boundaries and ideologies. Borrowing ideas from the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology and economics, historians have found vital intercultural links, heretofore unseen, while embracing the need for a more scientific approach to the past. The development of new historical techniques derived from the social sciences has also increased the possibilities of understanding the past but has also increased the complexities of historical knowledge. We have arrived, as Barraclough observes, at the "age of team-work," where major projects are of such scope that many minds are needed to carry them out. The present vitality of Historical investigation has also immensely broadened our definition of history. -- Publisher.