Overview

Our understanding of ourselves and the world as historical has drastically changed since the postwar period, yet this emerging historical sensibility has not been appropriately explained in a coherent theory of history. In this book, Zoltán Simon argues that instead of seeing the past, the present and the future together on a temporal continuum as history, we now expect unprecedented change to happen in the future (in visions of the future of technology, ecology and nuclear warfare) and we look at the past by assuming that such changes have already happened. This radical theory of history challenges narrative conceptualizations of history which assume a past potential of humanity unfolding over time to reach future fulfillment and seeks new ways of conceptualizing the altered socio-cultural concerns Western societies are currently facing. By creating a novel set of concepts to make sense of our altered historical condition regarding both history understood as the course of human affairs and historical writing, History in Times of Unprecedented Change offers a highly original and engaging take on the state of history and historical theory in the present and beyond.

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9781350095052

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Reviews

Among an expanding literature, Zoltan Simon's challenging book will quickly become a landmark. A clear vision of what is at stake, a well informed and precise inquiry starting from a fascinating question: how to think the novelty of an unprecedented event or unprecedented change , such as the anthropogenic one? And an ambitious proposal to rethink the very concept of history. * Francois Hartog, Chair of Modern and Antique Historiography, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), France * In a world that seems both bewildered by and disassociated from history, Zoltan Simon brings a sharp and deep argument in favour of philosophy of history that embraces disruption. His is a deft and thought-provoking account of why novelty, historical ownership and singularity need to be understood on more than narrative terms. This will be an invaluable book for anyone wanting to dig into and to break past the sense that theory cannot speak in a world of so many fractured voices. * Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Professor of History, Australian National University, Australia * The idea that the devastating wars of the twentieth century and the unprecedented growth of technology and environmental concerns of the twenty-first have, taken together, permanently destroyed the appeal of history in the West, has been dominant for a while. Simon mounts a vigorous, provocative, and imaginative challenge to that thesis. A powerful intervention that will rekindle debates about history and its nature in our uncertain times. * Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, University of Chicago, USA * History understood as knowledge of the past can never be the same after reading Zoltan Boldizsar Simon's book. It offers a future-oriented perspective on historical thinking which is challenged by times of unprecedented change. We are living through an epochal transformation marked by nuclear warfare, anthropogenic climate change, bioengineering and radical enhancement. How can history as a conceptual strategy help us to cope with these novelties? How might the future be pre-figured through a different approach to historical change? And how would this reorient theories of historical writing? In exploring these questions, the author presents a thought-provoking book that belongs to the emerging fields of anthropocene and posthumanist history. It is a must read for anyone interested in critical history as realistic scientific-fiction. * Ewa Domanska, President of the International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography, Professor of Human Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland * History is in trouble, or even in crisis. At present, this is almost a truism. What sets Zoltan Boldizsar Simon's book apart from other publications making the same claim, in the footsteps of Francois Hartog, Aleida Assmann and others, is that he actually knows why. His theory of unprecedented changes presents a radical - indeed unprecedented - attack on history as developmental process and narrative form, penned by one of the most original new voices in the theory of history. * Helge Jordheim, Professor of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway *

Among an expanding literature, Zoltan Simon's challenging book will quickly become a landmark. A clear vision of what is at stake, a well informed and precise inquiry starting from a fascinating question: how to think the novelty of an unprecedented event or unprecedented change , such as the anthropogenic one? And an ambitious proposal to rethink the very concept of history. * Francois Hartog, Chair of Modern and Antique Historiography, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), France * The idea that the devastating wars of the twentieth century and the unprecedented growth of technology and environmental concerns of the twenty-first have, taken together, permanently destroyed the appeal of history in the West, has been dominant for a while. Simon mounts a vigorous, provocative, and imaginative challenge to that thesis. A powerful intervention that will rekindle debates about history and its nature in our uncertain times. * Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, University of Chicago, USA * In a world that seems both bewildered by and disassociated from history, Zoltan Simon brings a sharp and deep argument in favour of philosophy of history that embraces disruption. His is a deft and thought-provoking account of why novelty, historical ownership and singularity need to be understood on more than narrative terms. This will be an invaluable book for anyone wanting to dig into and to break past the sense that theory cannot speak in a world of so many fractured voices. * Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Professor of History, Australian National University, Australia * History understood as knowledge of the past can never be the same after reading Zoltan Boldizsar Simon's book. It offers a future-oriented perspective on historical thinking which is challenged by times of unprecedented change. We are living through an epochal transformation marked by nuclear warfare, anthropogenic climate change, bioengineering and radical enhancement. How can history as a conceptual strategy help us to cope with these novelties? How might the future be pre-figured through a different approach to historical change? And how would this reorient theories of historical writing? In exploring these questions, the author presents a thought-provoking book that belongs to the emerging fields of anthropocene and posthumanist history. It is a must read for anyone interested in critical history as realistic scientific-fiction. * Ewa Domanska, President of the International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography, Professor of Human Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland * History is in trouble, or even in crisis. At present, this is almost a truism. What sets Zoltan Boldizsar Simon's book apart from other publications making the same claim, in the footsteps of Francois Hartog, Aleida Assmann and others, is that he actually knows why. His theory of unprecedented changes presents a radical - indeed unprecedented - attack on history as developmental process and narrative form, penned by one of the most original new voices in the theory of history. * Helge Jordheim, Professor of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway *

Among an expanding literature, Zoltan Simon's challenging book will quickly become a landmark. A clear vision of what is at stake, a well informed and precise inquiry starting from a fascinating question: how to think the novelty of an unprecedented event or unprecedented change, such as the anthropogenic one? And an ambitious proposal to rethink the very concept of history. * Francois Hartog, Chair of Modern and Antique Historiography, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), France *

Author Information

Zoltán Boldizsár Simon is Research Fellow and Board Member of the Centre for Theories in Historical Research at Bielefeld University, Germany.

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