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Summary:
This unprecedented book by one of Britain’s most admired historians describes the intellectual impact that the study and consideration of history has had in the Western world over the past 2,500 years.
Treating the practice of history not as an isolated pursuit but as an aspect of human society and an essential part of the culture of Europe and America, John Burrow magnificently brings to life and explains the distinctive qualities found in the work of historians from the ancient Egyptians and Greeks to the present, including Livy, Tacitus, Bede, Froissart, Clarendon, Gibbon, Macaulay, Michelet, Prescott and Parkman. The author sets out not to give us the history of academic discipline but a history of choices: the choice of pasts, and the ways they have been demarcated, investigated, presented and even sometimes learned from as they have changed according to political, religious, cultural, and (often most important) partisan and patriotic circumstances. Burrow aims, as well, to change our perceptions of the crucial turning points in the history of history, allowing the ideas that historians have had about both their own times and their founding civilizations to emerge with unexpected freshness.
Burrow argues that looking at the history of history is one of the most interesting ways we have to understand the past. Certainly, this volume stands alone in its ambition, scale and fascination.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
A rare book.
Customer Rating:
A rare book because it more than rewards the effort of reading. Like all great teachers, Burrow's affection for his subject and its practitioners shines through. His prose can be a little scholarly at times (terms such as "prolix" and "antinomian" can make even a fairly literate reader feel excluded) but that's just nit-picking. Also, the book is a history of *western* histories - not surprising given the author's background; you can only cast your net so wide. It is a breathtaking achievement - an easy, engaging read that makes you want to learn more.
An eccentric smorgasbord of delights
Customer Rating:
A History of Histories is an idiosyncratic work filled with a kaleidoscope of insights that derive from the author's broad education and lifetime of reading. At his best, Burrow seems like an animated tour guide pointing us to histories that we have never read and never will read: "Bet you've not thought about William Robertson. Well, let me tell you what's important about his History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (1769). And then Carlyle--how about his peculiar and evocative prose style?"
What one should not expect of Burrow is a systematic study of great historians or western historiography. Everyone can choose his own favorite examples of imbalance. Ancient Greek historians get more space than the entire twentieth century. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the egregious medieval mythmaker, gets five and a half pages to Leopold von Ranke's three at best. Among Americans, William Hickling Prescott gets eight pages, Charles Beard a sentence and a half.
I also think Burrow has slighted the influence of the religion of the Bible in the development of western historiography. He postpones consideration of the Book itself until after all the ancients, although anyone guessing at the dates of composition for what Herbert Butterfield calls the "Court History of David" (I & II Samuel) would probably place it several centuries before Herodotus and would also probably, like Butterfield, credit it with "an amazing impartiality and independence." Then too, much of the praise bestowed on Enlightenment historians should, in my opinion, be attributed to the outworking of the Reformation. Likewise, nineteenth-century historicists reflect the soft glow of German pietism at their backs.
In the end, A History of Histories is still the finest piece of historigraphical literature written for the educated general reader in our generation. It's an eccentric smorgasbord of delights. If there are too many kinds of artichokes, there is still plenty of steak on the table.
Impressive
Customer Rating:
A History of Histories is an ambitious book that attempts to show the developments in the writing of history over the span of around 2,500 years. The author examines who some of these major historians were, what topics they considered worthy of recording, what their strengths and weaknesses were ,and lastly, how history became professionalized.
I found the first section of Burrow's book easier to follow since I have read some of the works of the ancient Greek and Roman historians detailed here. I wasn't as familiar with the works of the later historians, though I have heard of several of these figures. This part was a slower read as my knowledge of these historians and their works was not as strong. The author has an impressive knowledge of so many of these figures and their works.
The author does a good job in tracing the developments in the writing of history and who some of the representative historians from each major period were. Obviously it is also important to know a little about the world around them at their time and how that influenced their writings, which the author also touches on. Epics, chronicles, annals, universal histories, socioeconomic, cultural, political/diplomatic histories and the likes are all included in this broad overview. Indeed, the evolution in the writing of history becomes clear in this book. The author aptly concludes by stating this is a story that doesn't end. An erudite, but challenging read in places, at least for me.
A truly monumental work
Customer Rating:
I have always been a history nut, reading history after history throughout my life. And one cannot read these histories without realizing that there is a difference between the way the historians viewed their subjects, and how they went about recording history. In this fascinating book, author and noted historian, John Burrow, examines the historians, putting them within their historic framework, and showing how they viewed their subjects.
As each historian is unveiled - Herodotus, Thucydides, Zenophon, and on and on - you get an understanding of what the historian was saying and how he understood his subject. Even more, you get to see how the understanding of "history" has changed throughout the unfolding of Western society.
Overall, I found this to be a thoroughly absorbing book. I really enjoy history, and now I see how a "history" is part of history, with a context to it. If you enjoy reading non-modern histories, you really should read this book. I does a great job of taking you behind the words, to what the author was truly saying and why. I think that this is a truly monumental work, one that is sure to please any history buff.
Fascinating Erudition
Customer Rating:
A book which surveys the history of historical writing might not sound too appealing, but you'd be wrong to pass this jewel by just because of the somewhat forbidding title. A History of Histories is a treasure trove of fascinating information about the craft of historiography, from its early practitioners in Greece down to the late twentieh century's newest interpretations.
Most people have heard of Herodotus and Thucydides, and they may have run across references to Livy, Tacitus, and William of Monmouth from time to time. John Burrow describes these historians, traces their contexts, and explains their interpretations and points of view along with many lesser-known but important historians like Xenophon, Gregory of Tours, and Michelet. The work is massive, nearly 500 pages, but it rarely bogs down or becomes tedious because Burrow has the gift of describing even the most complex interpretations succinctly. Even more important, he isn't afraid to make a few sardonic asides here and there, lessening the air of gravity which threatens to prevail at times. I chuckled over his comments on the family tree of the Herodians and his explanation for the names of his old school's houses.
A History of Histories is to be read and savored both for its wealth of knowledge and for its well crafted language.
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