History and Historians in the Twentieth Century - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Dec, 2002

History and Historians in the Twentieth Century. Peter Burke, editor. The British Academy (Oxford University Press). [pounds sterling]25.00. 253 pages. ISBN 0-19-726268-6. This collection, part of the British Academy's Centenary Monographs series, aims at 'a historical and critical overview of historical thought and writing since 1900, emphasising recent developments'.

These ten reflective essays, whilst they do not cover economics or the history of political thought, do cover a wide variety of topics: the Middle Ages; the city in modern Britain; historians and the nation; historical writing about Asia; 'gender'; population history; medical history; class; recent developments in the history of art; and, finally, developments in historiography and the philosophy of history. There is a useful introduction by the editor in which he describes the various changes that have occurred in British historiography in the century just past.