Synopses & Reviews
What Daniel Boorstin did for science in The Discoverers, Colin Wells now does for history in
A Brief History of History. An accessible and lively biography of history as a living idea, this book brings together evocative sketches of the great historians with concise summaries of their most important works. Moving forward through the ages, Wells shows us how such brilliant minds have changed our understanding of history, how history itself moved forward over time as a way of approaching the past, and why history” is a startlingly fluid concept, with an evolutionary coursea storyall its own.
History is the turf on which we fight our culture wars. Given its humble origins as a minor literary genre in ancient Greece, the study of history stands today as perhaps the most successful monument to the global spread of Western civilization, rivaling even science in its ubiquity. Yet it did not have to turn out that way. While tracing the evolution of history, Wells shows how this branch of knowledge has at times been rejected and scorned by those who questioned its very legitimacy.
Wells begins by arguing that history has two parents” in the ancient Greek world, epic poetry and science, and that its first two practitioners, Herodotus and Thucydides, each took after one of those parents respectively. This dichotomy serves as a backdrop for the larger narrative that follows, in which the scientist” dominates the writing of history until very recent times, when the storyteller” makes a comeback.
A riveting blend of vibrant prose and penetrating insight, A Brief History of History is a must for anyone interested in how we look at the past.
Synopsis
What Daniel Boorstin did for science in The Discoverers, Timothy Ferris for cosmology in Coming of Age in the Milky Way, and Robert Heilbroner for economics in The Worldly Philosophers, Colin Wells now does for history in A Brief History of History. The most accessible, concise, and clear-sighted biography ever of history as a living idea, this book brings together evocative sketches of the great historians with concise summaries of their key works. From its humble origins as a minor literary genre in ancient Greece, to its modern-day status as perhaps the most successful monument to the global spread of Western civilization, Wells traces the remarkable evolution of this branch of knowledge, and shows how it has long been the turf on which we fight our culture wars.
A riveting blend of readability, vibrant humor, and penetrating insight, A Brief History of History is a must for anyone for whom living in the present, and looking to the future, is unimaginable without serious reflection on the past.
Synopsis
What Daniel Boorstin did for science in The Discoverers, Timothy Ferris for cosmology in Coming of Age in the Milky Way, and Robert Heilbroner for economics in The Worldly Philosophers, Colin Wells now does for history in A Brief History of History. The most accessible, concise, and clear-sighted biography ever of history as a living idea, this book brings together evocative sketches of the great historians with concise summaries of their key works. From its humble origins as a minor literary genre in ancient Greece, to its modern-day status as perhaps the most successful monument to the global spread of Western civilization, Wells traces the remarkable evolution of this branch of knowledge, and shows how it has long been the turf on which we fight our culture wars.
A riveting blend of readability, vibrant humor, and penetrating insight, A Brief History of History is a must for anyone for whom living in the present, and looking to the future, is unimaginable without serious reflection on the past.
Synopsis
In this biography of history as a living idea, Colin Wells links together lively, evocative sketches of the great historians and summarizing their most important works. Readers learn how their ideas changed the understanding of history, how history itself moved forward over time, and why "history" is a startlingly fluid concept.
Synopsis
THE REMARKABLE EVOLUTION OF HISTORY THROUGH THE AGES What began as a minor literary genre in ancient Greece stands today as perhaps the most successful monument to the global spread of Western civilization, rivaling even science in its ubiquity. Yet it did not have to turn out that way. In
A Brief History of History, the most accessible and lively biography ever of history as a living idea, Colin Wells moves forward through the ages to show how the great historians and their works have changed our understanding of history, and why history” is a startingly fluid concept, with an evolutionary coursea storyall its own. An Excerpt from A
BRIEF HISTORY OF HISTORYHeres a question: What if Thucydides had written smut? In the LatinWest, writers like Gregory and Bede may have abandoned secular history, but on its home turf in the Greek East, the tradition of
Herodotus and Thucydides proved more, shall we say, robust . . .
Synopsis
What Daniel Boorstin did for science in The DiscoverERs, Timothy Ferris for cosmology in Coming of Age in the Milky Way, and Robert Heilbroner for economics in The Worldly Philosophers, Colin Wells does for history in A BRIEF HISTORY OF HISTORY a readable 90,000-word intellectual history in its most engaging and accessible form. The book is a biography of history as a living idea, linking together lively, evocative sketches of the great historians with a few bold brushstrokes summarizing their most important works. We learn how the great historians changed our understanding of history, how history itself moved forward over time as a particular way of approaching the past, and why "history" is a startlingly fluid concept, with an evolutionary coursea story, that isall its own. Wells tells that story with zest and humor, but also with the intellectual seriousness that educated and intelligent readers demand.
About the Author
Colin Wells is the author of Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World and The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Saudi Arabia.