What Is History - E.H. Carr

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Reply 1

My first essay this year was on eh carr's WIH, pretty sure i found the book online (ie. free) ill take a look later and post back.

Reply 2

erk

Sorry fella, i'm going insane, i bought this book, i was thinking of the Paine essay i did!

Reply 3

holdencaulfield

E.H. Carr like G.R. Elton (The Practice of History) are seen as useful reading for a history interview. Although I don't think they're essential reading (unless of course you talk about them on your personal statement!)

If you only read one book though before interview make it In Defence of History (Richard Evans). Evans talks about Carr and Elton and the different criticisms against them and also about postmodernism in historiography.

Reply 4

Will_

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Reply 5

holdencaulfield

Will_

I've got "On 'what is history'" (Edit: it's by Keith jenkins) at the moment - the only thing my library had - is this any use?

Yes. (And if you get hold of In Defence of History Evans critiques some of what Jenkins says). I wouldn't get that worried about who you've read really, I don't think they'll expect us to know all the different schools of thought in historiography. I think people just suggest dipping into a bit to give some purpose to the subject you're wanting to study and make you think to give you ideas for questions that might come up at interview.

Reply 6

footballhead

No: it will help you with some questions they might ask you, for example about progress, fiction, etc but im pretty sure if you reel out an answer you read in one of those it would be pretty obvious - most of what they say is stuff you have probably thought off yourself

for example in what is history, carr just bangs on about the same bloody point - history is written with one eye on the present - jenkins makes this a problem and the in defence guy says, so what? if u know its going on then u overcome it

Reply 7

Agrippina

E.H. Carr... takes me right back to when I was first a member here, and a certain fanatic named Tek used to spout on and on about Carr!

Reply 8

Will_

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Reply 9

footballhead

Will_

Thank you. O.K., so do you think just reading Jenkins will be sufficient, or do recommend highly that i also read Carr, perhaps before Jenkins?

Londonboy, point taken, but better to be safe than sorry, cliched as that is. Besides, as a post-qualification applicant, it might be expected that i've read something like this?

wait if jenkins is the post modernist guy dont bother

just google post modernism and history and read what they have to say i think it is basically that:

no such thing as a historical fact everything is osubjective
history has ended - fukuyama
linguistics - we cant really decipher the meaning of what documents say

read in defence because it makes jenkins points and then knocks them down but dude chill! i doubt it is of much use

Reply 10

holdencaulfield

Will_

Thank you. O.K., so do you think just reading Jenkins will be sufficient, or do recommend highly that i also read Carr, perhaps before Jenkins?

Doesn't matter..If you haven't read much historiography before read Evans In Defence of History first as it's the easiest to understand and it's still very respected; it's a lot more update than Carr and Elton. (Carr and Elton were writing in the 60s).

Reply 11

sixthirtythree

Rachel

E.H. Carr... takes me right back to when I was first a member here, and a certain fanatic named Tek used to spout on and on about Carr!

Awww Tekky! :love:

I saw him yesterday!

I think he now believes Carr is a load of rubbish.

Reply 12

oldspc

'What is History' was on the reading list I was sent before I went up to St Peter's to read history. It's still sitting on my bookshelf unread 22 years later. I don't think it's essential.