Awards
- Winner of Bronze Medal, World History category, 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Overview
What if there had been no World War I or no Russian Revolution? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo in 1815, or if Martin Luther had not nailed his complaints to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, or if the South had won the American Civil War? The questioning of apparent certainties or ""known knowns"" can be fascinating and, indeed, ""What if?"" books are very popular. However, this speculative approach, known as counterfactualism, has had limited impact in academic histories, historiography, and the teaching of historical methods. In this book, Jeremy Black offers a short guide to the subject, one that is designed to argue its value as a tool for public and academe alike. Black focuses on the role of counterfactualism in demonstrating the part of contingency, and thus human agency, in history, and the salutary critique the approach offers to determinist accounts of past, present, and future.
Full Product Details
Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Imprint: Indiana University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.499kg
ISBN: 9780253016973
ISBN 10: 0253016975
Pages: 252
Publication Date: 03 August 2015
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
A wide-ranging and lively commentary on the utility (and limits) of examining what did not happen in the past as a way to make sense of what did... Black makes a powerful case for the analytical value of counterfactualism in the explanation of structural questions, in particular how the modern world system took the shape it did, does, and might in the future. Other Pasts represents the kind of wide and up-to-date synthesis that is a hallmark of Black's scholarship. John Brobst, author of The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India s Independence, and the Defense of Asia
[Black's] illustrative examples of 'what if, ' 'how, ' and 'why' will make readers sit back and wonder. Kirkus Reviews
This is the most robust defense of historical counterfactuals to date... For those interested in this fascinating subject, Black s book is indispensable. Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Author Information
Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is author of many books including War and Technology (IUP, 2013), Fighting for America: The Struggle for Mastery in North America, 1519–1871 (IUP, 2011), and War and the Cultural Turn. Black is a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize of the Society for Military History.
