Hayden White [Hardcover]

This new book offers a clear and accessible exposition of Hayden White's thought. In an engaging and wide-ranging analysis, Herman Paul discusses White's core ideas and traces the development of these ideas from the mid-1950s to the present. Starting with White's medievalist research and youthful fascination for French existentialism, Paul shows how White became increasingly convinced that historical writing is a moral activity. He goes on to argue that the critical concepts that have secured White's fame – trope, plot, discourse, figural realism – all stem from his desire to explicate the moral claims and perceptions underlying historical writing. White emerges as a passionate thinker, a restless rebel against scientism, and a defender of existentialist humanist values.

This innovative introduction will appeal to students and scholars across the humanities, and help develop a critical understanding of an increasingly important thinker.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: How to Read Hayden White.

White's Achievement.

White's Reputation.

White's Questions.

Reinterpreting White.

Structure of the Book.

1. Humanist Historicism: The Italian White.

The Papal Schism of 1130.

White's Covering Law Model.

Ideology or Value Orientation .

The Disenchantment of the World.

From Historicism to Sociology.

A Croce Partisan.

Questions In/About History.

2. Liberation Historiography: The Politics of History.

Why History?

Choosing a Past.

Strong Humanist Father Figures.

Social Conditions of Freedom.

In Defense of Metahistory.

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