PREFACE

This book is not the result of a spur-of-the-moment decision or of its author’s wish to ride a wave of fashion. Rather it grew over many years together with my fascination with historiographical problems. Again and again I confronted the question, Why has Western culture so persistently exhibited a concern for the past and produced so great a variety of historiographical interpretations? The expectation I held as a youthful historian, that I could find clear and ready answers, has long since yielded to a sense of awe for the complexity of the problem and the perplexing if not embarrassing realization that history, the discipline identified with reflection on the past, has no satisfactory account of its own career in English or any other language. In tranquil times that might not matter, although it seems hardly proper even then. But in the late twentieth century, when there is much talk about a crisis of historiography and when historians attempt to construct theories of history in order to justify the discipline and defend its territory, the lack of a comprehensive survey of historiography is more than an annoyance. It leads even historians to make ad hoc judgments on the nature and theory of history which—irony of ironies—fail to understand the problems of historiography historically.

There exist excellent monographs on aspects and periods of historiography. They are most valuable but cannot substitute for a continuous account. Only in the context of the whole of Western historiography’s development can we truly fathom the role and nature of history as a human endeavor. The desire to demonstrate that whole made me stubbornly stress the main lines of development and reject the temptation to write a handbook or encyclopedia with the obligation inherent in such works to mention as many worthy historians and their works as possible. Neither did I, nor could I, trace all the influences and cross-influences exhaustively; a work of many volumes would have resulted and, in Sir Walter Raleigh’s words, I fear that “the darkness of age and death would have covered it and me, long before the performance.”

The present work, which shows the role history and historians have played in the various societies and phases of Western culture, proved substantially more difficult to write than a “Who wrote what, when” book. The latter would demand much time and patience but little sense of development or interpretation. Readers who fail to find expected names and works here should remember that this book is designed to narrate and interpret, not to recite lists. Omission signifies not a lack of distinction but only that the historian or the work was not needed to illustrate a development or the thought of a school. Readers will also notice that I have avoided judgments on historians and schools of thought. I entrust these judgments to the readers and to life. The former will wish for that freedom and the latter has its own ways of judging—harsh, relentless, and final. And if some modern historians have entered the story of historiography through achievements of a lesser magnitude than those of Thucydides, Tacitus, or Gibbon it is precisely because life’s judgment on their worthiness is still outstanding. Finally, those who would have preferred a topical to a narrative account will find sufficient guidance in the detailed Table of Contents and the Index. As for dates, I have included many but relied in other instances on the context of narration to fix the time of a historiographical development. In addition, the life spans of the authors discussed are given in the Index.

My own expectations for this book are well measured. If the work will make discussions on the nature of history a bit more informed, help define the dimensions of the so-called crisis of history in a more realistic manner, kindle enthusiasm or simply respect for the discipline, and even lead some to read more in the works of past historians, its purpose will have been fulfilled and the many years of labor on it well spent.

At the beginning of all acknowledgments must stand the general and sincere one to the dozens of scholars who have written monographs on special periods and without whose labor my own would have been prolonged by many years. The select bibliography is in this sense also part of the acknowledgments. There were others who assisted me more directly in various ways: Eric Cochrane of the University of Chicago and Richard Mitchell of the University of Illinois, who critically reviewed some sections; colleagues at Western Michigan University, particularly Alan Brown, Albert Castel, Edward 0. Elsasser, Robert Hahn, Paul Maier, Howard Mowen, and Dale Pattison, who helped me in many ways; Elizabeth White, who rendered editorial help; officials of Western Michigan University, who granted me two professional leaves; Opal Ellis and Becky Ryder, who patiently typed and retyped. My expression of gratefulness to them is no mere formality but the result of sincere appreciation.