pre-Oxbridge reading list?

Any books you'd really recommend reading before applying to study history?

I'd advise reading some historiography. 'What is History?' is always the cliched place to start but there are also books like Jenkins' 'Rethinking history' etc that are also a good introduction to the study of the study of history, if that makes sense.

Reply 2

colourtheory

Original post by Markman

Any books you'd really recommend reading before applying to study history?

I do History at Oxford, so can give some advice.

Basically, it's best to just do some reading around a topic of interest and leave it at that. The reading lists we get are so academic and difficult to wade through that the general reader is going to get a really bad impression of what studying history here is all about. What's more, you won't have any question with which to guide your reading and so you're likely to call it a day and throw them out the window, or into a bin, local bonfire, nearby ocean etc.

Shape your reading to include some opposing / contrasting views and pick an area that is at-least slightly controversial. This way you'll have plenty to talk about.

Reply 3

colourtheory

Original post by flywithemma

Actually, I wouldn't recommend these at all. I'm currently revising my Historiography module for prelims at Oxford and we don't do any of these sorts of books, rather read something by Tacitus, Herodotus, Weber, Machiavelli, Gibbon, St. Augustine etc. and talk about that in your personal statement. It will do far more to impress a history professor than simply saying, 'I have read "What is History?" and think x, y, and z'. Be original and provide some thoughts on a primary text!

Reply 4

flywithemma

Original post by colourtheory

We actually got told to read E H Carr in third year for one of our disciplines historiography classes :tongue:

I guess the advice I'd give more generally to the OP is to read something that makes you think about history as a subject/a discipline rather than trying to read too much about specific periods, unless there are ones that you have a particular desire to find out more about. I remember buying loads of 'very short introductions' in the summer before UCAS applications and trying to learn about a huge breadth of historical topics, but that really wasn't useful, and didn't prepare me at all for the breadth and depth I dealt with during my degree. I found Jenkins and Carr were really good introductions to thinking about things like post-modernism/Marxism/macro history/the fact when we study history from a textbook we're actually just studying the view of the author of the textbook etc especially as it was something that never got touched on at all at school. Whilst quoting Carr in your PS is probably not a great idea, being aware of some of his ideas/what people have said about the study of history in the decades since the 1960 is a useful grounding to have going in to a history degree.