Arthur Alfaix Assis - Böcker

What is history about? This Element shows that answers centred on the keyword 'past events' are incomplete, even if they are not simply wrong. Interweaving theoretical and historical perspectives, it provides an abstract overview of the thematic plurality that characterizes contemporary academic historiography. The reflection on different sorts of pasts that can be at focus in historical research and writing encompasses events as well as non-events, especially recursive social structures and cultural webs. Some consequences of such plurality for discussions concerning historical methodology, explanation, exemplification, and representation are also outlined. The basic message, reinforced throughout, is that the great relevance of non-event-centred approaches should prompt us to talk more about "histories" in the plural and less about "history" in the singular.

What is history about? This Element shows that answers centred on the keyword 'past events' are incomplete, even if they are not simply wrong. Interweaving theoretical and historical perspectives, it provides an abstract overview of the thematic plurality that characterizes contemporary academic historiography. The reflection on different sorts of pasts that can be at focus in historical research and writing encompasses events as well as non-events, especially recursive social structures and cultural webs. Some consequences of such plurality for discussions concerning historical methodology, explanation, exemplification, and representation are also outlined. The basic message, reinforced throughout, is that the great relevance of non-event-centred approaches should prompt us to talk more about "histories" in the plural and less about "history" in the singular.

"There is a great deal to admire about this study. The author is extraordinarily erudite: not only has he read carefully all of Droysen's work and mastered the secondary literature about him, he moves with ease across centuries of historiography...I learned a lot from the study about both Droysen and his place in modern historiography." * James Sheehan, Stanford University "This is a thorough, original, and well-researched study of a major nineteenth-century historical thinker...Assis demonstrates with great clarity that Droysen saw no incompatibility between 'studying history', 'thinking historically', and 'making history'. By situating the German historian both in his own time and in a long tradition of reflection on the uses and abuses of history, Assis's book makes a welcome contribution to intellectual history, history of historiography, and historical theory." * Herman Paul, Leiden University A scholar of Hellenistic and Prussian history, Droysen developed a historical theory that at the time was unprecedented in range and depth, and which remains to the present day a valuable key for understanding history as both an idea and a professional practice.Arthur Alfaix Assis interprets Droysen's theoretical project as an attempt to redefine the function of historiography within the context of a rising criticism of exemplar theories of history, and focuses on Droysen's claim that the goal underlying historical writing and reading should be the development of the subjective capacity to think historically.In addition, Assis examines the connections and disconnections between Droysen's theory of historical thinking, his practice of historical thought, and his political activism. Ultimately, Assis not only shows how Droysen helped reinvent the relationship between historical knowledge and human agency, but also traces some of the contradictions and limitations inherent to that project. Arthur Alfaix Assisis Assistant Professor of the Theory and Methodology of History at the University of Brasilia.