MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02308cam a2200349 i 4500
001 2015006248
003 DLC
005 20151119082641.0
008 150605s2015 inu b s001 0 eng
010 $a 2015006248
020 $a9780253016973 (cloth : alkaline paper)
020 $a9780253017048 (paperback : alkaline paper)
020 $z9780253017062 (ebook)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
050 00 $aD210$b.B536 2015
082 00 $a900$223
100 1 $aBlack, Jeremy,$d1955-
245 10 $aOther pasts, different presents, alternative futures /$cJeremy Black.
264 1 $aBloomington :$bIndiana University Press,$c[2015]
300 $axiii, 236 pages ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
520 2 $a"What if there had been no World War I or no Russian Revolution? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo in 1815, or if Martin Luther had not nailed his complaints to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, or if the South had won the American Civil War? The questioning of apparent certainties or 'known knowns' can be fascinating and, indeed, 'What if?' books are very popular. However, this speculative approach, known as counterfactualism, has had limited impact in academic histories, historiography, and the teaching of historical methods. In this book, Jeremy Black offers a short guide to the subject, one that is designed to argue its value as a tool for public and academe alike. Black focuses on the role of counterfactualism in demonstrating the part of contingency, and thus human agency, in history, and the salutary critique the approach offers to determinist accounts of past, present, and future"--Provided by publisher.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 209-230) and index.
505 0 $aA personal note on life and times -- Types of history -- Power and the struggle for imperial mastery -- The West and the rest -- Britain and France, 1688-1815 -- Counterfactualism in military history -- Into the future -- Skepticism and the historian -- Conclusions -- Postscript.
650 0 $aImaginary histories.
650 0 $aHistory$xMethodology.
650 0 $aContingency (Philosophy)
650 0 $aAgent (Philosophy)
650 0 $aHistory$xPhilosophy.