What is history and why should we study it? Is there such a thing as historical truth? Is history a science? One of the most accomplished historians at work today; John Lewis Gaddis; answers these and other questions in this short; witty; and humane book. The Landscape of History provides a searching look at the historian's craft; as well as a strong argument for why a historical consciousness should matter to us today.Gaddis points out that while the historical method is more sophisticated than most historians realize; it doesn't require unintelligible prose to explain. Like cartographers mapping landscapes; historians represent what they can never replicate. In doing so; they combine the techniques of artists; geologists; paleontologists; and evolutionary biologists. Their approaches parallel; in intriguing ways; the new sciences of chaos; complexity; and criticality. They don't much resemble what happens in the social sciences; where the pursuit of independent variables functioning with static systems seems increasingly divorced from the world as we know it. So who's really being scientific and who isn't? This question too is one Gaddis explores; in ways that are certain to spark interdisciplinary controversy.Written in the tradition of Marc Bloch and E.H. Carr; The Landscape of History is at once an engaging introduction to the historical method for beginners; a powerful reaffirmation of it for practitioners; a startling challenge to social scientists; and an effective skewering of post-modernist claims that we can't know anything at all about the past. It will be essential reading for anyone who reads; writes; teaches; or cares about history.
#170776 in Books Peter H Wood 2003-01-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 5.50 x .50 x 8.10l; .40 #File Name: 0195158237136 pagesStrange New Land Africans in Colonial America
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. VERY high-level introduction to a formative eraBy WuMingI'm not really sure whom this book is for. On the one hand; it seems to have been written for people with little or no knowledge of American slavery (and perhaps little background in history of most kinds--several pages are dedicated to the basics of the Protestant Reformation). And despite the pro-forma descriptors ("this terrible institution") applied with regularity; it really pulls its punches with regard to exactly what made it terrible. I could see it being used as supplemental reading in a high school history class: it provides the outlines of how slavery took on its eventual 19th century form; which is more typically described in textbooks; without in any way discomfiting majority sensibilities.It's a shame; because it could have been a really rich and informative book. The author clearly knows a great deal about the subject. He summarizes major topics and tantalizing biographies with a paragraph or two apiece; if you already know something of a topic; you'll likely find peculiar what he mentions and what he glosses over. If you don't; often there's enough to be intrigued by but not enough to be satisfied with. If this larger subject the book addresses is of interest to you; the book might best serve as a series of pointers for further reading. The author even seems to anticipate this: there's an "Additional reading" list in the back.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great book for beginners to learn so much about African ...By ZJGreat book for beginners to learn so much about African American history. I read it in 2 days and had to write a 30 page assignment on it. Worked out great. It was delivered to me in 4 days. Must read!4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A good short introduction to slavery under colonialismBy Tony ThomasThis is a good quick and short introduction to slavery and African presence in the colonial period in North America. This is not a scholarly or deep study; but a good book for someone who needs the facts about this subject. Here and there the author offers a few facts that an experienced reader might not be familiar with; but this is really an introduction that can help a reader go on to more serious research.One of the more original aspects of this book is that he discusses the presence of Africans in the current US before colonialization by the Dutch and the English. The first Africans were not the ones who were bought from the Dutch in 1619 in Virginia; but Africans who came as slaves or free persons with the Spanish in their explorations and attempts at conquest in both the Southeast and the Southwest in the 16th century. A number of them were known to escape to the Indians; others set down roots in the early Spanish settlments in New Mexico and Florida or in failed Spanish outposts elsewhere.One of the more useful sections of his book is his quick but clear discussion of how the English colonialists decided to use color and "race" to determine the nature of slavery and to redefine slavery from the way it had been seen in both Europe and Africa. He also indicates how racism was constructed to justify this political and economy decision; rather than being some inherent human prejudice.Again; this is a good quick introduction or refresher on the subject.
