Who Owns History?Who Owns History?
Rethinking the Past in a Changing World
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Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, 1st ed, Available .Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, 1st ed, Available . Offered in 0 more formatsA thought-provoking new book from one of America's finest historians
"History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do."
Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it?
In Who Owns History?, Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of the pathbreaking Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades--globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa--and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This is a provocative, even controversial, study of the reasons we care about history--or should.
A thought-provoking new book from one of America's finest historians "History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do." Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it? In W ho Owns History? , Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of the pathbreaking Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades--globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa--and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This is a provocative, even controversial, study of the reasons we care about history--or should.
A series of nine previously published essays by historian Foner (Columbia U.) in which he reflects on his own career as a historian as well as on broader issues of how history is used and understood. Among the topics discussed are the cultural and historical determinants of what a historian chooses to study, the evolution of the idea of freedom as it relates to the U.S. and globalization, the treatment of the past in post-apartheid South Africa, the relative weakness of socialist movements in the United States, and Ken Burn's treatment of the Civil War. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Considers the author's ideas about the past and the future as compared to the works of Richard Hofstadter, and addresses such topics as globalization, the Soviet Union collapse, South African apartheid, slavery, the Civil War in America, and Reconstruction. 10,000 first printing.
Presents a series of nine previously published essays by the noted historian in which he reflects on how history is used and understood, the cultural and historical determinants of what a historian chooses to study, and other topics.
"History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do."
Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it?
In Who Owns History?, Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of the pathbreaking Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades--globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa--and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This is a provocative, even controversial, study of the reasons we care about history--or should.
A thought-provoking new book from one of America's finest historians "History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do." Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it? In W ho Owns History? , Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of the pathbreaking Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades--globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa--and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This is a provocative, even controversial, study of the reasons we care about history--or should.
A series of nine previously published essays by historian Foner (Columbia U.) in which he reflects on his own career as a historian as well as on broader issues of how history is used and understood. Among the topics discussed are the cultural and historical determinants of what a historian chooses to study, the evolution of the idea of freedom as it relates to the U.S. and globalization, the treatment of the past in post-apartheid South Africa, the relative weakness of socialist movements in the United States, and Ken Burn's treatment of the Civil War. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Considers the author's ideas about the past and the future as compared to the works of Richard Hofstadter, and addresses such topics as globalization, the Soviet Union collapse, South African apartheid, slavery, the Civil War in America, and Reconstruction. 10,000 first printing.
Presents a series of nine previously published essays by the noted historian in which he reflects on how history is used and understood, the cultural and historical determinants of what a historian chooses to study, and other topics.
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- New York : Hill and Wang, 2002.
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