Tosh - The Pursuit of History

The Pursuit of History

The Pursuit of History

Aims, methods and new directions in the study of modern history

FIFTH EDITION

John Tosh

First published 1984 by Pearson Education Limited

Second edition 1991

Third edition 1992

Fourth edition 1996

Fifth edition published in Great Britain 2010

Published 2013 by Routledge

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Copyright 1984, 2010, Taylor & Francis.

The right of John Tosh to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices

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ISBN 13: 9780582894129 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Tosh, John.

The pursuit of history : aims, methods, and new directions in the study of modern history / John Tosh. 5th ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-582-89412-9 (pbk.)

1. Historiography. 2. Great BritainHistoriography. I. Title.

D13.T62 2010

907.2041dc22

2009043558

Set by 3 in 10pt Sabon

For Nick and Will

T he word history carries two meanings in common parlance. It refers both to what actually happened in the past and to the representation of that past in the work of historians. This book is an introduction to history in the second sense. It is intended for anyone who is sufficiently interested in the subject to wonder how historical enquiry is conducted and what purpose it fulfils. More specifically, the book is addressed to students taking a degree course in history, for whom these questions have particular relevance.

Traditionally history undergraduates were offered no formal instruction in the nature of their chosen discipline; its time-honoured place in our literary culture and its non-technical presentation suggested that common sense combined with a sound general education would provide the student with what little orientation he or she required. This approach leaves a great deal to chance. It is surely desirable that students consider the functions served by a subject to which they are about to devote three years of study or more. Curriculum choice will be a hit-and-miss affair unless based on a clear grasp of the content and scope of present-day historical scholarship. Above all, students need to be aware of the limits placed on historical knowledge by the character of the sources and the working methods of historians, so that at an early stage they can develop a critical approach to the formidable array of secondary authorities that they are required to master. It is certainly possible to complete a degree course in history without giving systematic thought to any of these issues, and generations of students have done so. But most universities now recognize that the value of historical study is thereby diminished, and they therefore provide introductory courses on the methods and scope of history. I hope that this book will meet the needs of students taking such a course.

Although my own research experience has been in the fields of African history and gender in modern Britain, it has not been my intention to write a manifesto for the new history. I have tried instead to convey the diversity of current historical practice, and to situate recent innovations in the context of mainstream traditional scholarship, which continues to account for a great deal of first-rate historical work and to dominate academic syllabuses. The scope of historical studies is today so wide that it has not been easy to determine the precise range of this book; but without some more or less arbitrary boundaries an introductory work of this length would lose all coherence. I therefore say nothing about the history of science or environmental history, and there are only passing references to the history of the body and the history of consumption. In general I have confined my choice to those themes that are widely studied by students today.

Even within these limits, however, my territory is something of a minefield. Anyone who imagines that an introduction to the study of history will express a consensus of expert opinion needs to be promptly disabused. One of the distinguishing features of the profession is its heated arguments concerning the objectives and limitations of historical study. This book inevitably reflects my own views, and it is appropriate to declare them at the outset. The salient points are: that history is a subject of practical social relevance; that the proper performance of its function depends on a receptive and discriminating attitude to other disciplines; and that the methods of academic history hold out the promise not of truth in an absolute sense, but of incremental growth in our knowledge of the past. At the same time, I have tried to place these claims none of which is of course original in the context of recent debate among historians, and to give a fair hearing to views with which I disagree.

This book explores a number of general propositions about history and historians, rather than providing a point of entry into any one field or specialism. But since I anticipate that most of my readers will be more familiar with British history than any other, I have relied for my illustrative material mostly on that field, with some additional examples from Africa, Europe and the United States. The book is meant to be read as a whole, but I have included a certain amount of cross-referencing in the text to assist the reader who wishes to pursue specific themes.

The book is intended to take the reader from first principles through to some of the latest debates about the direction historical study is taking. considers the relationship between history and memory, including oral history.

Anyone familiar with previous editions will want to know what is different about this one. There are substantial changes. My survey of the main themes of history has been reorganized and placed earlier in the book (). Elsewhere I have updated the text and the reference material at numerous points.

In ranging so far beyond any one persons experience of research and writing, this book is more dependent than most on the help of other scholars. Earlier editions record my intellectual debts. This latest edition has benefited from the advice of Peter Edwards, Carrie Hamilton, Paula Hamilton, Karen Harvey, Krisztina Robert, John Seed and Caroline White.