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For all of the recent debates over the methods and theoretical underpinnings of the historical profession, scholars and laypeople alike still frequently think of history in terms of storytelling. Accordingly, historians and theorists have devoted much attention to how historical narratives work, illuminating the ways they can bind together events, shape an argument and lend support to ideology. From ancient Greece to modern-day bestsellers, the studies gathered here offer a wide-ranging analysis of the textual strategies used by historians. They show how in spite of the pursuit of truth and objectivity, the ways in which historians tell their stories are inevitably conditioned by their discursive contexts.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Narrativity and Historical Writing: Introductory Remarks
Stefan Berger and Chris Lorenz Part I: Professional History Writing Chapter 1. Thucydides' Narrative of the Vanquished: Gazing Death and Tensions of Historical Time
Alexandra Lianeri Chapter 2. History beyond Narration: The Shifting Terrain of
Bloodlands Wulf Kansteiner Chapter 3. Secularization Narratives in 1950s Europe: Sources, Characteristics, and Effects
Herman Paul Chapter 4. Narratives of Global History: Expounding Global Interconnections - A Comparison of Donald R. Wright's History of Niumi and Giorgio Riello's History of Cotton
Gabriele Lingelbach Part II: School Textbooks in History Chapter 5. A Two-Faced Narrative: Ancient Persia in German Textbooks since 1900
Björn Onken Chapter 6. Historicizing Present-Day European Societies by Telling Medieval (Hi)story in Schoolbooks
Daniel Wimmer Chapter 7. Narrative Structure of High School World History Textbooks in Postwar Japan
Naoki Odanaka Chapter 8. Historical Maps as Narratives: Anchoring the Nation in History Textbooks
Mario Carretero and Everardo Perez-Manjarrez Part III: Histories in Various Media Chapter 9. Social Media and Multimodal Historical Representation: Depicting Auschwitz on Instagram
Robbert-Jan Adriaansen Chapter 10. The Civil Rights Movement (Re)Narrated
Kenan van de Mieroop Chapter 11. Media Narratives of 1970s Left-Wing Terrorism
Jörg Requate Chapter 12. Time Travel as Running around in Circles: The Popular Historical Novel and the Sense of Historicity in Today's Society
Daniel Fulda Part IV: National Histories Chapter 13. National Narratives in Chinese Global History Writing
Xupeng Zhang Chapter 14. Narratives of Brazilian History: From Liberal to Politically Incorrect
Valdei Araujo Chapter 15. Changing LUK: Nation and Narration in the First and the Third editions of
Life in the United Kingdom Arthur Chapman Analysing Historical Narratives: Concluding Remarks
Stefan Berger and Chris Lorenz Index
About the author
Stefan Berger is Professor of Social History and Director of the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr University Bochum since 2011. He is also Executive Chair of the Foundation History of the Ruhr and Honorary Professor at Cardiff University in the UK.
Nicola Brauch is Professor of History Didactics/History Education for the History Department at Ruhr University Bochum since 2014.
Chris Lorenz is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of History at VU University of Amsterdam and International Research Associate at the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr University Bochum since 2016.
