Constructing the past: Essays in Historical Methodology

This book presents a selection of ten of the most significant contributions to Faire de l'histoire, a major three-volume exposition of the current state of French historiography first published in 1974. All the essays were commissioned from historians representing the best of the 'Annales' tradition, including Emmanuel le Roy Ladurie, François Furet and Georges Duby. The first five essays concentrate upon the physical world, and deal with some of the more familiar aspects of 'new history'; the second half of the book is concerned with the unconscious world of mentalit6s, the network of belief, symbol and cultural practice that is attracting the attention of historians in ever-increasing numbers. In an introduction Colin Lucas places the essays in this collection within the long-term development of French historical study, and assesses not only its great strengths but also some of the doubts and dilemmas to which it has given rise.Le Goff, Jacques is the author of 'Constructing the past: Essays in Historical Methodology', published 1985 under ISBN 9780521259767 and ISBN 0521259762.