This book brings together a distinguished international group of scholars in an effort to answer this key question through a sustained interrogation of the periods, themes, fields, problems and perspectives in historical writing on the United States. How have the intricate issues surrounding gender, race, slavery and civil rights been resolved and interpreted in recent American history? How have historians dealt with the complexities of events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the New Deal in developing their historical narratives? In what ways have technological developments in industry, print and film influenced the questions historians ask?
Between Fire and Sleep: Essays on Modern Polish Poetry and Prose
Twentieth-century Polish literature is often said to be a witness to history,” a narrative of the historical and political disasters that visited the nation. In this insightful book, Jaroslaw Anders examines Poland’s modern poetry and fiction and explains that the best Polish writing of the period 1918-1989 was much more than testimony. Rather, it constantly transformed historical experience into metaphysical reflection, a philosophical or religious exploration of human existence. Anders analyzes and contextualizes the work of nine modern Polish writers.
Is there such a thing as human nature? In Marxism and Human Nature, Sean Sayers defends the controversial theory that human nature is a historical phenomenon. Those who disagree with this theory counter that it leads to forms of scepticism and relativism which are at odds with morality; Sayers argues that this need not be the case. Drawing on the work of Marx and Hegel, he develops a historical account of human needs and powers which provides the basis for a distinctive form of Marxist humanism.
Tuct he cradle of Western civilisation, Ancient Greece was a land of contradictions and conflict. Intensely quarrelsome and competitive, the Greek city-states consistently proved unwilling and unable to unite. Yet, in spite of or even because of this internal discord, no ancient civilization proved so dynamic or productive. The Greeks not only colonized the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas but set standards of figurative art that endured for nearly 2500 years.
