Whither "What If" History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4495740 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gavriel D Rosenfeld (0000-0001-9469-5373, Fairfield University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 451-467 |
| Publication date | 2014-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/hith.10724 |
| OpenAlex | W2079078634 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Richard Evans's new book, Altered Pasts, offers a perceptive but flawed critique of the field of counterfactual history. The author provides a useful historical survey of the field's recent rise to prominence and intelligently analyzes its respective strengths and weaknesses. His overall assessment of the field is quite skeptical, however. Evans cites many reasons for his skepticism, but his overall critique can be summarized in three words: plausibility, politicization, and popularity. Evans faults works of counterfactual history for their frequently implausible narratives, their promotion of political agendas, and their distressing degree of popularity. In advancing his critique, Evans makes many valid observations that call attention to important deficiencies in the field. But his view is a partial one that neglects countervailing evidence and never penetrates to the heart of why the field has left the margins for the mainstream. Evans's study provides a useful introduction to an understudied topic, but further research-ideally of a less partisan nature-is required for us to better understand counterfactual history's increasing appeal
Appeal · Art · Counterfactual thinking · Economics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Literature · Mainstream · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Positive economics · Skepticism · Sociology · Australian History and Society · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
Storia controfattuale e great men in Erodoto e Tucidide
Motives and merits of counterfactual histories of science
The March on Rome revisited. Silences, historians and the power of the counter-factual
It's a wonderful NHS ? A counterfactual perspective on the creation of the British National Health Service
So close no matter how far
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2024 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |