| Brief History of History: Great Historians and the Epic Quest to Explain the Past Contributor(s): Wells, Colin (Author) |
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ISBN: 159921122X ISBN-13: 9781599211220 Publisher: Lyons Press OUR PRICE: $25.16 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 2008 Annotation: In this biography of history as a living idea, Colin Wells links together lively, evocative sketches of the great historians and summarizing their most important works. Readers learn how their ideas changed the understanding of history, how history itself moved forward over time, and why "history" is a startlingly fluid concept. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Historiography |
| Dewey: 907.2 |
| LCCN: 2008033751 |
| Physical Information: 1.22" H x 6.64" W x 9.3" (1.40 lbs) 352 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: What Daniel Boorstin did for science in The Discoverers, Timothy Ferris for cosmology in Coming of Age in the Milky Way, and Robert Heilbroner for economics in The Worldly Philosophers, Colin Wells now does for history in A Brief History of History. The most accessible, concise, and clear-sighted biography ever of history as a living idea, this book brings together evocative sketches of the great historians with concise summaries of their key works. From its humble origins as a minor literary genre in ancient Greece, to its modern-day status as perhaps the most successful monument to the global spread of Western civilization, Wells traces the remarkable evolution of this branch of knowledge, and shows how it has long been the turf on which we fight our culture wars. A riveting blend of readability, vibrant humor, and penetrating insight, A Brief History of History is a must for anyone for whom living in the present, and looking to the future, is unimaginable without serious reflection on the past. |