The History Makers: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past
MAKING HISTORY is an epic exploration of who writes about the past and how the biases of certain storytellers - whether Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare or Simon Schama - continue to influence our ideas about history (and about who we are) today.
In this authoritative and entertaining book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses (such as the writers of the Bible, major novelists, dramatists, journalists and political propagandists) influence what become the accepted records of human experience. Is there, he asks, even such a thing as 'objective' history? The depth of Cohen's inquiry and the delight he takes in his subjects includes the practitioners of what he calls 'Bad History,' those thieves of history who twist reality to glorify themselves and conceal their or their country's behaviour.
Cohen investigates the published works and private utterances of our greatest historical thinkers to discover the agendas that informed their views of the world, and which in so many ways have informed ours. From the origins of history-writing, when such an idea seemed itself revolutionary, through to television and the digital age, MAKING HISTORY abounds in captivating figures brought to vivid life, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, from Winston Churchill to Mary Beard. Rich in character, complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a unique exploration of both the aims and craft of history-making. It will lead us to think anew about our past and ourselves.
Review
Richard Cohen has written an utterly engaging love letter to History's hidden story tellers. Provocative, funny but scrupulously fair, Making History is a timely reminder that history doesn't write itself -- AMANDA FOREMAN
With meticulous research and riveting anecdotes, Richard Cohen has peeled back the hidden history behind those who record our past. He brilliantly shows how an extraordinary gallery of characters - from prodigies to charlatans, from ideologues to heroes - has exposed, shaped and, at times, bent and even covered up the facts. In the process, Cohen has achieved what only the finest historians can: he has scrupulously and engagingly made history -- DAVID GRANN, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z
What a grand, illuminating and fun book! Richard Cohen takes us on a learned tour through the cacophony of history and of the characters who've told the stories that shape us. To understand who we are, we have to understand who we've been - and, as Cohen amply demonstrates, who's framed those understandings -- JON MEACHAM, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House and Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
A fascinating and finely wrought history of history ― PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, starred review
[A] love song to the profession of history . . . extremely effective. Cohen's range is admirably broad . . . insightful, thought-provoking and thoroughly researched ― Library Journal
About the Author
Podrobnosti
| Autor |
Richard Cohen |
|---|---|
| Vydavatel |
W&N
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DZ, United Kingdom
https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/
+44 (0)20 7873 6000
|
| Jazyk | anglicky |
| Vazba | měkká |
| Počet stran | 784 |
| Formát | 15,2 × 23,2 cm |
| EAN | 9781474615785 |
| Rok vydání | 2022 |
| Edice |
Biografie, memoáry, osobnosti Historie Společnost a společenské vědy |
Autor
Richard Cohen
Podobné knihy
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The Polymath: A Cultural History from Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag
