From Herodotus to H-Net 00-Popkin-FM.indd 1 26/06/15 10:20 PM 00-Popkin-FM.indd 2 26/06/15 10:20 PM From Herodotus to H-Net The Story of Historiography JEREMY D. POPKIN New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 00-Popkin-FM.indd 3 26/06/15 10:20 PM Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2016 by Oxford University Press For titles covered by Section 112 of the US Higher Education Opportunity Act, please visit www.oup.com/us/he for the latest information about pricing and alternate formats. Published by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 http://www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Popkin, Jeremy D., 1948- From Herodotus to H-Net : the story of historiography / Jeremy D. Popkin. pages cm ISBN 978-0-19-992300-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Historiography--History. I. Title. D13.P569 2015 907.2--dc23 2015010489 Printing number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper About the cover  Modern technology helps uncover traces of the past, and also traces of the historical consciousness of two thousand years ago. Centuries after it was originally carved, this ancient Egyptian statue of a sphinx was brought to Alexandria, the great center of Hellenistic learning, along with other monuments, as a way of emphasizing the Ptolemaic monarchy’s connection to the country. Submerged during an earthquake, it remained hidden until recently. 00-Popkin-FM.indd 4 26/06/15 10:20 PM This book is dedicated to my students, who have challenged me to find ways to communicate the excitement of history for more than forty years 00-Popkin-FM.indd 5 26/06/15 10:20 PM 00-Popkin-FM.indd 6 26/06/15 10:20 PM CONTENTS Preface x About the Author xv Historiography from Herodotus PART ONE to the Twentieth Century 1 CHAPTER 1 What Is Historiography? 3 The Concerns of Historiography 3 This Book and Its Author 12 Justifying the Study of the Past 15 A Short Field Guide to the Varieties of History 18 CHAPTER 2 History in Ancient and Medieval Times 25 Herodotus and Thucydides 26 History-Writing in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds 30 The Origins of Chinese Historiography 35 History, Judaism, and Christianity 36 History in the Middle Ages 39 History in the Chinese and Islamic Worlds 41 The Late Middle Ages in Europe 43 vii 00-Popkin-FM.indd 7 26/06/15 10:20 PM viii Contents CHAPTER 3 The Historiographical Revolution of the Early Modern Era 47 The Renaissance Revolution in Historiography 48 Historians in a New World 51 The Age of Print 53 History in the Age of the Enlightenment 59 CHAPTER 4 The Nineteenth Century and the Rise of Academic Scholarship 68 The Revolutionary Era and the Development of Historical Consciousness 70 Ranke and His “Revolution” 75 Nationalism and Historical Scholarship 82 History and the Sciences of Society 86 A Historical Civilization 91 CHAPTER 5 Scientific History in an Era of Conflict 97 Critiques of Scientific History 99 World War I and the Understanding of History 105 The Founding of the “Annales” School 110 History and World War II 113 Social History in the Postwar Period 117 History in the Cold War World 119 Historiography in the PART TWO Contemporary World 125 CHAPTER 6 Glorious Confusion: Historiography from the 1960s to the End of the Millennium 127 The Challenges of the 1960s 127 Searching for a New History 130 New Paradigms for History 133 Women’s History and the History of Gender Relations 142 Contesting Eurocentrism 146 The History of Memory 149 The “History Wars” 153 00-Popkin-FM.indd 8 26/06/15 10:20 PM Contents ix CHAPTER 7 History in a New Millennium 166 A Historical Controversy to End the Millennium 166 History in the Internet Era 170 History beyond the Printed Page 176 New Directions in Historical Scholarship 185 CHAPTER 8 Historians at Work 196 The Graduate School Experience 200 Searching for a Job in History 210 The Quest for Tenure 213 Professors’ Work 215 Is There Life after Tenure? 219 History Careers Beyond Academia 222 CHAPTER 9 Conclusion 229 Suggestions for Further Reading 233 Index 239 00-Popkin-FM.indd 9 26/06/15 10:20 PM