E.H. Carr - What is History? (1961)
History Theory – 160 pages – my copy (paperback; 1977) bought for £2 from the Barbican Book Cupboard in 2006 with the penned words: ‘Brian William Ferguson, Perth, Scotland, 1978’.
- 3 nods out of 5 -
A good question deserves, likewise, a good response: What is History? E.H. Carr is the man fitting for such a task: one of the eminent historians of his time, he taught at both Oxford and Cambridge, while publishing many notable modern histories upon Soviet Russia. His book, What is History?, is a collection of lectures he gave in early 1961 to young, budding students of the subject: his intention to enlighten and explain.
History Theory – 160 pages – my copy (paperback; 1977) bought for £2 from the Barbican Book Cupboard in 2006 with the penned words: ‘Brian William Ferguson, Perth, Scotland, 1978’.
- 3 nods out of 5 -
A good question deserves, likewise, a good response: What is History? E.H. Carr is the man fitting for such a task: one of the eminent historians of his time, he taught at both Oxford and Cambridge, while publishing many notable modern histories upon Soviet Russia. His book, What is History?, is a collection of lectures he gave in early 1961 to young, budding students of the subject: his intention to enlighten and explain.
In these lectures, Carr deals with the historian, the facts of history, society, History’s clashes with Science (though Carr hated the use of a capital ‘h’); causation in history and also the, somewhat paradoxical, future of history. An array of matters are asked, fitting into Carr’s belief that ‘the historian…is an animal who incessantly asks the question: "Why?"’ (p.86).
The chief argument of the book is Carr’s insistence that it is impossible to fully understand the events of the past. This clashes with the late Victorian view that everything would be gathered and made clear with the progress of time, that an absolute of History could be achieved, as could absolutes in other fields, such as the Sciences. Such beliefs were torn to pieces in a vastly changed world – mid-twentieth century – to that of the nineteenth: two world wars, alongside new discoveries put paid to this previously secure mind-set. Carr argues that our viewpoint on history will change from generation to generation, that despite the use of objective methods our interpretation of the past is condemned to be subjective due to the historian being a part of history himself.
Throughout the text, Carr believes in the worthiness of history as a discipline, believing that we can get much from it:
‘To learn about the present in the light of the past means also to learn about the past in the light of the present. The function of history is to promote a profounder understanding of both past and present through the interrelation between them’ (p.68).
What is History? is a fine addition to the canon of historical theory, and remains one of the ‘must-reads’ of history students. The arguments remain clear and concise – if not spectacular – and although Carr will remain in the grip of those fond of history, his collection of lectures would benefit any reader of inquisitive disposition.
