The New Ways of History: Developments in Historiography - Gelina Harlaftis, Nikos Karapidakis, Kostas Sbonias and Vaios Vaiopoulos, (eds.),

(I.B. Tauris), 2010 

260pp., £56.50, hard, ISBN 978-1-84885-126-9.

Making sense of the past is always a challenge for historians; some might argue a fruitless task. In a world where people's actions are motivated by a myriad of emotions and reasons, how are historians to impose intellectual order?  Is what we conclude merely one of many possible explanations for past actions, can we see through the chaos that is human experience in our post-postmodern world?    All we can say with certainty is that people are born, live their lives and die; beyond that all is conjecture.  The past was lived; history is constructed.  The critical question for historians today is ‘what is History for?'  In many respects, this question underpins this wide-ranging overview of recent trends and the changing agenda of historical questions.  The fifteen essays in this fascinating volume compare new chronological, thematic and regional approaches across various historical fields, ancient, medieval, modern and early modern history, political, social, economic and business history, maritime history, diaspora history and gender history but also consider human history as a whole.  There is much in this volume that teachers will find thought-provoking for both themselves and their students.