[Download] "Jenkins, Keith, Ed 1997: the Postmodern History Reader." by revista de la Asociacion Espanola de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos Atlantis ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Jenkins, Keith, Ed 1997: the Postmodern History Reader.
- Author : revista de la Asociacion Espanola de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos Atlantis
- Release Date : January 01, 1999
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 200 KB
Description
Jenkins, Keith, ed 1997: The Postmodern History Reader. London: Routledge. Pp. xiii + 443. Keith Jenkins's collection of critical texts dealing with the question of postmodernism in historiography offers a much-needed synthesis of the debate that has been going on for thirty years, and which seems to have gathered momentum in the last decade. The editor appears to be sceptical about every historical "fact" except that of the existence of postmodernity itself, which he defined in a previous book (Jenkins 1995). He intends this one to be a course-book for teachers who are "establishing or modifying a course on 'the nature of history'", to help students lose their "theoretical innocence" and become aware of the problems behind any historian's discourse which claims to get to "the truth of the past". In so doing Jenkins presents arguments both for and against postmodernism in history writing, though admitting his hope that the weight of the readings comes down in favour of it. As in his "Introduction" he wishes "to be open about our closures", he also acknowledges his belief that "history is theoretical 'all the way down'" (1). This may come as a disappointment to those who, like myself, expected to find, rather than samples of a prolonged polemic, a more workable manual for learning and teaching what postmodern history will actually look like, if it is to replace the realist model. The various articles, however, offer many an. interesting glimpse of what postmodernist histories might be, and the final section, which compiles contributions to the debate on the representation of the Holocaust, becomes more specific than previous ones by referring to something most people still recognise as an "event" (though postmodernists question this concept).