History, in its broadest sense, is the totality of all past events, although a more realistic definition would limit it to the known past. Historiography is the written record of what is known of human lives and societies in the past and how historians have attempted to understand them. Of all the fields of serious study and literary effort, history may be the hardest to define precisely, because the attempt to uncover past events and formulate an intelligible account of them necessarily involves the use and influence of many auxiliary disciplines and literary forms. Until modern times, history was regarded primarily as a special kind of literature that shared many techniques and effects with functional narrative. The complex relations between literary art and historiography have been and continue to be a subject of serious debate. The concern of all serious historians has been to collect and record facts about the human past and often to discover new facts. They have known that the information they have is incomplete, partly incorrect, or biased and requires careful attention. All have tried to discover in the facts patterns of meaning addressed to the enduring question of human life. All these issues in the context of teaching of history have been discussed in the present book in detail and therefore, it is hoped that it will be a very useful work for all concerned.
There are no reviews yet.