Les raons del passat. Tendències historiogràfiques actuals

ISBN:

1998, 306 pp.

The essays by Frank Ankersmit, Philip Benedict, Roger Chartier, Natalie Z. Davis, Carlo Ginzburg, Georg G. Iggers, Giovanni Levi, Hans Medick, Edward Muir, Carlo Poni and Richard T. Vann are examples of the evolution experienced by French, British, North-American, German and Italian historiographies since the emergence of the critical trends of the 20th century historiography. These works show the moments of break and the evolution of classic historiographic concepts such as 'truth', 'space', 'time' and 'intentionality'. As the editors suggest, there are two periods in which changes were quite significant: first, during the 30s, when Social History triumphed over Historicism, above all in France and Great Britain; second, in the 70s and 80s, when conceptual and methodological approaches diversified. It must be taken into account that these two periods of innovation on theoretical conceptions and historiographic praxis were plural within each tradition. As these texts reflect divergences aroused much debate. Yet, the 20th century historiography cannot be limited to these two shifts. The strength of the debate between Marxists and non-Marxists, between the supporters of the modernisation processes and those who analyse daily life events, or the discussions about which are the most suitable observation methods of social phenomena demonstrate that we are still far from the end of the old 'battle for history' that Lucien Febvre announced.