New History and the Old Critical Essays and Reappraisals [Paperback]

For this updated edition of her acclaimed work on historians and the writing of history, Gertrude Himmelfarb adds four insightful and provocative essays dealing with changes in the discipline over the past twenty years.

In examining the effects of postmodernism, the illusions of cosmopolitanism, A. J. P. Taylor and revisionism, and Francis Fukuyamas end of history, Himmelfarb enriches her illuminating exploration of the myriad waysnew and oldin which historians make sense of the past.

Himmelfarb has an intellect of steel as sharp as a razor. For those who enjoy intellectual debate and a concern for the value of the past,The New History and the Oldis as splendid as an Olympic fencing match.One can only share Ms. Himmelfarbs hope that we shall soon be allowed to find a renewed excitement in the drama of events, the power of ideas, and the dignity of individuals& [The New History and the Old] will serve as a powerful corrective to many unquestioned assumptions.For this updated edition of her acclaimed work on historians and historiography, Himmelfarb adds four new essays. In examining the effects of postmodernism, the illusions of cosmopolitanism, A. J. P. Taylor and revisionism, and Fukuyama's end of history, Himmelfarb enriches her exploration of the ways historians make sense of the past.