Other pasts, different presents, alternative futures [electronic resource] / Jeremy Black.
Black, Jeremy, 1955- author.
2015
D210 .B536 2015eb
Available Online

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Title Other pasts, different presents, alternative futures [electronic resource] / Jeremy Black.
Author Black, Jeremy, 1955- author.
ISBN 9780253016973
9780253017048
9780253017062 (electronic book)
Published Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2015]
Copyright ©2015
Language English
Description 1 online resource (254 pages)
Call Number D210 .B536 2015eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 900
Summary "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.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Description based on print version record.
Available in Other Form Other pasts, different presents, alternative futures.
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A 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.

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