Oscar Handlin – författare

Like scholars in other fields, historians have long occupied themselves in self-justification. In a society which calibrates all measures by a single standard, the proof of scientific worth became relevance, which in turn was interpreted as a search not for truth but for political correctness. In a blistering professional critique of this tendency in academic scholarship, perhaps the first of its kind, Oscar Handlin offers an analysis that, if anything, has grown more pertinent over the past decade.

In seventeen chapters, written with the brilliant assurance of a master craftsman, Handlin shows why the turn to partisanship and meaning has undermined the calling of historical research. As his new introduction makes clear, partisanship has taken the best and brightest from the field into different callings. Both widely heralded upon its initial appearance as well as attacked with vigor, Truth in History emanates from a half-century''s experience of reading, writing, teaching, researching, and publishing in history and related disciplines. The passage of time has only confirmed the concerns of Handlin and the accuracy of his predictions for the field. This book will be valuable for sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians. It is a must read for those who contemplate a life of scholarship in liberal arts.

Like scholars in other fields, historians have long occupied themselves in self-justification. In a society which calibrates all measures by a single standard, the proof of scientific worth became relevance, which in turn was interpreted as a search not for truth but for political correctness. In a blistering professional critique of this tendency in academic scholarship, perhaps the first of its kind, Oscar Handlin offers an analysis that, if anything, has grown more pertinent over the past decade.

In seventeen chapters, written with the brilliant assurance of a master craftsman, Handlin shows why the turn to partisanship and meaning has undermined the calling of historical research. As his new introduction makes clear, partisanship has taken the best and brightest from the field into different callings. Both widely heralded upon its initial appearance as well as attacked with vigor, Truth in History emanates from a half-century''s experience of reading, writing, teaching, researching, and publishing in history and related disciplines. The passage of time has only confirmed the concerns of Handlin and the accuracy of his predictions for the field. This book will be valuable for sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians. It is a must read for those who contemplate a life of scholarship in liberal arts.

This book is a methodological primer on how historians gather evidence, presume reliability of witnesses, and develop forms of verification in the conduct of analysis and research. It is an introduction to the study of history and an examination of specific instances in which ideology has distorted the study of American history.

Oscar Handlin is best known as America''s leading historian of ethnicity and the immigrant experience in the new nation. When it was first published in 1961, The Distortion of America was perhaps the first critique of anti-Americanism as an ideological expression of Marxism-Leninism in schools of higher learning. For the second edition, originally published in the 1990s, Handlin added chapters on forces affecting economic strength in the US; race and distortions of America; Yugoslavian troubles created by class divisions; and the relevance to China of democracy in the United States. The final chapter is a memorable essay on how Arthur Koestler''s career exemplifies the difficulties of the ex-communist in an unsympathetic environment.

Now available in paperback for the first time, this volume offers a new generation of historians and students an opportunity to acquaint themselves with one of the premier historians of the twentieth century.

This book is a methodological primer on how historians gather evidence, presume reliability of witnesses, and develop forms of verification in the conduct of analysis and research. It is an introduction to the study of history and an examination of specific instances in which ideology has distorted the study of American history.

Oscar Handlin is best known as America''s leading historian of ethnicity and the immigrant experience in the new nation. When it was first published in 1961, The Distortion of America was perhaps the first critique of anti-Americanism as an ideological expression of Marxism-Leninism in schools of higher learning. For the second edition, originally published in the 1990s, Handlin added chapters on forces affecting economic strength in the US; race and distortions of America; Yugoslavian troubles created by class divisions; and the relevance to China of democracy in the United States. The final chapter is a memorable essay on how Arthur Koestler''s career exemplifies the difficulties of the ex-communist in an unsympathetic environment.

Now available in paperback for the first time, this volume offers a new generation of historians and students an opportunity to acquaint themselves with one of the premier historians of the twentieth century.