History is always trying to be decoded in different ways. Geoff Eley, author of in A Crooked Line, attempts to describe the quick transformation between 1970 to 1980 from social history to cultural history because of dramatic reforms in political standpoints and the linguistic turn of the social history that was studied in earlier years. The goals of Eley’s book is to not only describe how the world changed from studying social history to cultural history but also to highlight the importance of accepting change in how we study history and how instead of shunning interdisciplinary work, it would be promoted since it can provide dozens of new ways to analyze the past. To better understand this Eley provides a personal narrative and ties together
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“Becoming A Historian” mainly consist of some context of who Geoff Eley is, what lead Eley to being a historian, and explains how while the history he learned about in college was interesting, what he learned thanks to the political movements around him and because of non school related books published from sources like Penguin and Pelican books. “Optimism” discusses Marxism and how Eley came in contact with this way of thinking. This is the chapter that prepares evidence to make the real claims in the follow up chapters and explains the quick transition from social to cultural history. “Disappointment” shows that no way of thinking can last long without criticism and people will demand that more marginalized groups should be taken a closer look at to get a full comprehensive understanding of history. Eley then goes back to take a more personal stance on this analysis with “Reflectiveness” and helps to explain not only how Eley himself choose his main focus in history but also how limiting history can be when just examining it through a social historian lense. Finally, we get to “Defiance” which really highlights the importance of marking down why these changes in study occurred, while people are still demanding even further change, and history will always be a relevant study but that does not mean …show more content…
A Crooked Line attracts scholars and while it can be read and analyzed by undergraduate readers, the language used would make many feel like an outsider while reading the book. A good portion of the “general audience” not only would be confused by some of the language but also the connections being made. Anyone with a grasp of historical language, terms, and who is used to reading books that analyze such deep topics within this academic area then they would understand this book. However, for the unprepared and untrained, it can be difficult to comprehend, so while this book may have been for a general audience, it certainly does attract a very specific audience of scholars and college students. Though I think that Ely tried to reach to general audience by taking a more personal stance on the
“Becoming A Historian” mainly consist of some context of who Geoff Eley is, what lead Eley to being a historian, and explains how while the history he learned about in college was interesting, what he learned thanks to the political movements around him and because of non school related books published from sources like Penguin and Pelican books. “Optimism” discusses Marxism and how Eley came in contact with this way of thinking. This is the chapter that prepares evidence to make the real claims in the follow up chapters and explains the quick transition from social to cultural history. “Disappointment” shows that no way of thinking can last long without criticism and people will demand that more marginalized groups should be taken a closer look at to get a full comprehensive understanding of history. Eley then goes back to take a more personal stance on this analysis with “Reflectiveness” and helps to explain not only how Eley himself choose his main focus in history but also how limiting history can be when just examining it through a social historian lense. Finally, we get to “Defiance” which really highlights the importance of marking down why these changes in study occurred, while people are still demanding even further change, and history will always be a relevant study but that does not mean …show more content…
A Crooked Line attracts scholars and while it can be read and analyzed by undergraduate readers, the language used would make many feel like an outsider while reading the book. A good portion of the “general audience” not only would be confused by some of the language but also the connections being made. Anyone with a grasp of historical language, terms, and who is used to reading books that analyze such deep topics within this academic area then they would understand this book. However, for the unprepared and untrained, it can be difficult to comprehend, so while this book may have been for a general audience, it certainly does attract a very specific audience of scholars and college students. Though I think that Ely tried to reach to general audience by taking a more personal stance on the