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On 'What Is History': From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White ReviewThe book contains a critique of E.H. Carr's and Geoffrey Elton's views on what history is, as well as a discussion of the thinking of philosopher Richard Rorty and the historian Hayden White. The two chapters on Carr and Elton are written in a lively polemical style, and contain interesting and thought-provoking commentary. The author takes a "revisionist" view on Carr, seeing him as not so much a relativist as an advocate for his own left-wing modernity. Elton is dismissed as a shallow die-hard representative of "bourgeois" history. My main two complaints about his argument is that Jenkins doesn't really explain why it is that he thinks that "modernity" is now finished: he just repeats this claim un-reflectively to explain why Carr and Elton are "out of date." His "ideological" claim (also made unconvincingly in the 1991 pamphlet Rethinking History) about history being "always for someone" - and mainstream historians in the British academia necessarily representing the interests of the bourgeoisie - is also left conveniently unexplained. I would still recommend reading the two chapters on Carr and Elton, though. As for the second half of the book - chapters on Rorty and White - I have to say that I struggled through. Discussion of Rorty appears rather irrelevant to any plausible discussion in a history seminar. White's thoughts, despite being hailed by Jenkins as vastly superior to both Carr's and Elton's, are not likely to make a strong impression on students, especially the whole discussion of the "tropological" (hmmm, my spell-checker is underlining this word - it may still be stuck in modernity) aspects of writing history, i.e. the idea that a historian's invention of history depends largely on his or her selection of "tropes" (metaphors, etc.). I wouldn't say that what Jenkins has to say is completely irrelevant (for one thing - and he underscores this - reading his critique raises one's awareness of the possible pitfalls of smuggling ideologically-laid pronouncements into one's writing), I just wouldn't try to teach this to students in any class on introduction to the theory of history. It's a useful read for someone who had spent a few years in the field engaging in the writing of "proper history," much ridiculed by Jenkins.On 'What Is History': From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White OverviewOn `What is History?' provides a student introduction to contemporary historiographical debates.Carr and Elton are still the starting point for the vast majority of introductory courses on the nature of history. Building on his highly successful Rethinking History, Keith Jenkins explores in greater detail the influence of these key figures. He argues that historians need to move beyond their `modernist' thinking and embrace the postmodern-type approaches of thinkers such as Richard Rorty and Hayden White.Through its radical critique of Carr and Elton and its championing of Rorty and White, On `What is History'? represents a significant development for introductory studies on the nature of history.Want to learn more information about On 'What Is History': From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White?
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