Nancy Partner – författare

In recent times postmodernism has influenced all areas of the humanistic disciplines, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about the meaning of historical evidence and our ability to read and interpret it. Medievalists have been notably present in these debates, bringing 'the linguistic turn' to medieval sources and renewing a traditional field with non-traditional subjects and approaches. Writing Medieval History surveys those aspects of theory and its related new subject matters that have become part of the mainstream discipline of medieval history. This book is organised around three major themes: the self or recognizing people in premodern society; literary techniques for reading historical texts; and historicizing sexuality and gender. Within each section are essays on subjects such as the social self, use of psychoanalysis, and sex and gender in medieval life. This text clearly articulates concepts, defines critical vocabulary and demonstrates how the theory is applied in practice.

The SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory introduces the foundations of modern historical theory and the applications of theory to a full range of sub-fields of historical research, bringing the reader as up to date as possible with continuing debates and current developments.

The book is divided into three key parts, covering:

- Part I. Foundations: The Theoretical Grounds for Knowledge of the Past

- Part II. Applications: Theory-Intensive Areas in History

- Part III. Coda. Post-Postmodernism: Directions and Interrogations.

This important handbook brings together, in one volume, discussions of modernity, empiricism, deconstruction, narrative and postmodernity in the continuing evolution of the historical discipline into our post-postmodern era. Chapters are written by leading academics from around the world and cover a wide array of specialized areas of the discipline, including social history, intellectual history, gender, memory, psychoanalysis and cultural history. The influence of major thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Hayden White is fully examined.

This handbook is an essential resource for practising historians, and students of history, and will appeal to scholars in related disciplines in the social sciences and humanities who seek a closer understanding of the theoretical foundations of history.