An Analysis of Richard J. Evans's In Defence of History

Postmodernist thinkers consider history to be not very far removed from a work of fiction, something dependent on historians' own interpretations of the past. Evans, however, argues that we can trust history and it is possible to be objective about what happened and what caused it to happen.

Dr Nicholas Piercey holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from University College, London. He is currently an Honorary Research Associate in UCL's Department of Dutch in the UCL School of European Languages, Culture & Society. Dr Thomas Stammers is lecturer in Modern European History at Durham University, where he specialises in the Cultural History of France in the Age of Revolution. He is the author of Collection, Recollection, Revolution: Scavenging the Past in Nineteenth-Century Paris. Dr Stammers's research interests include a wide range of historiographical and theoretical controversies related to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe.

Ways in to the text Who is Richard J Evans? What does In Defence of History say? Why does In Defence of History matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited