The essays assembled here represent forty years of reflection about the European cultural past by an eminent historian. The volume concentrates on the Renaissance and Reformation, while providing a lens through which to view problems of perennial interest. A Usable Past is a book of unusual scope, touching on such topics as political thought and historiography, metaphysical and practical conceptions of order, the relevance of Renaissance humanism to Protestant thought, the secularization of European culture, the contributions of particular professional groups to European civilization, and the teaching of history.
The essays in A Usable Past are unified by a set of common concerns. William Bouwsma has always resisted the pretensions to science that have shaped much recent historical scholarship and made the work of historians increasingly specialized and inaccessible to lay readers. Following Friedrich Nietzsche, he argues that since history is a kind of public utility, historical research should contribute to the self-understanding of society.
- 457 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
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Information
Publisher
University of California PressYear
1990Print ISBN
9780520069909
Edition
1eBook ISBN
9780520910140
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- I. POLARITIES OF WESTERN CULTURE
- II. THE DURABLE RENAISSANCE
- III. HISTORY AND HISTORIANS
- IV. ESSAYS IN APPLIED HISTORY
- V. CODA
- Index
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Yes, you can access A Usable Past by William J. Bouwsma in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & European History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.