Re-Thinking History

Re-Thinking History by Keith Jenkins is a book that takes a critical look at writing history and how historians have individual approaches to history and the past. Jenkins creates a debate about theories, the definition of history, the question of truth, bias, and history as a science or as an art. He asks similar questions as John Tosh and John H. Arnold. All three challenge previous historians and theories. Jenkins even asks readers what method and ideology would they choose to follow, that of “modern empiricists, feminists, the Annales School, neo-Marxists, new-styles, econometricians, structuralists, or post-structuralists,” just to name a few. Here lies a conundrum; how can a historian only choose one of these methods of researching and interpreting history? Some of these may not apply to all subjects or are outdated or don’t align with a historian’s perspective. In some cases, a historian might choose concepts from two or more in order to gain insight into the past.
Post-modernism is a more recent concept characterized as “witnessing the ‘the death of centres’ and displaying ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’.” It is obvious that Jenkins is a post-modernist because he is critical of grand theories and ideologies and he even attests to being a …show more content…
Keith Jenkins provides insight into the theories of past and present historians. His intention is clearly to express post-modern ideas and theory into the field of history, which hadn’t been introduced into the discipline already. Jenkins stated that “the kinds of things I discussed in Re-Thinking History only appeared ‘radical’ within history. The ideas I discussed had long been circulating in practically all the other discourses around: art architecture, literature, sociology, philosophy.” Historians should borrow from other areas of study; they intertwine in life and should in study and