Our Shadowed Present: Modernism, Postmodernism, and History

“Written in clear language, this book offers a seasoned historian’s effective response to postmodernism’s challenge to culture and history.”—CHOICE
“Historians, particularly of Britain and the United States, looking for an original perspective on postmodernism presented in jargon-free prose should find this worth reading.”—Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire

This important and stimulating volume seeks to defend the value of historical understanding in the face of social-scientific and especially postmodernist criticisms of historical method and the usefulness of history for understanding the present. Clark argues that modernism and postmodernism can both be explained historically; that we cannot emancipate ourselves from the past; that historical identities are deeply rooted; and that the interplay of ideas in the public arena frequently disguises these truths, but does not abolish them.

Jonathan Clark is the Hall Distinguished Professor of British History at the University of Kansas. He was formerly a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and of All Souls College, Oxford. He is the author of a number of highly regarded books on early modern England.