Postmodernism for Historians

Postmodernism is the biggest thing to hit the History profession for almost 200 years. It offers a new intellectual foundation for understanding society, history, culture and psychology. Not limited to one creed or people, position or standpoint, it has in little over 15 years shifted all kinds of presumptions about the History subject and the historian’s craft. The result is that postmodernism has had a tectonic impact upon understanding the past.

This is the first dedicated primer on postmodernism for the History student. Written by an enthusiast, it offers a step-by-step guide to postmodern theory, discusses how historians have used it in their research and writing, and assesses criticisms and ways of responding to them. After opening chapters surveying the essential principles of postmodernism and the legacy of the Enlightenment, Brown distils postmodern down to six main themes of study - The Sign, The Discourse, Post/Structuralism, The Text, The Self and Morality. It includes brief biographies of the leading theorists, a glossary of usable definitions of postmodern terms, and guides to further reading and online searches.

Written in a clear and accessible manner, this book shows postmodernism works for the historian and how the theory can be infused into what we all do. It will enable students to use postmodern theory in critical assessment of history books and articles, and to construct personal essay, dissertation or thesis topics. By empowering those frightened by postmodern theory and the very idea of it, the book is the ideal companion to courses on Historical Theory and Historiography. Designed for the beginner, written by an ordinary historian, Postmodernism for Historians is the essential postmodern starting point for the student of history.

Callum G. Brown is Professor of Religious and Cultural History at the University of Dundee. He teaches and researches in the history of community ritual, personal memory and secularisation. He is author of The Death of Christian Britain (2000) and Up-helly-aa (1998).

The first clear guide to the minefields and meanings of postmodernism for history students.

• The book provides a step-by-step guide to postmodern theory for undergraduate students of Historical Theory and Historiography courses ¿ often compulsory modules

• Shortest and clearest introduction available to this essential yet challenging topic

• It provides examples of how historians have used postmodern theory in their research and writing

• It summarises anti-postmodernist criticisms and gives ways of responding to them
• The book aims to empower those frightened by postmodern theory and the very idea of it.

Callum Brown is Professor of Religious and Cultural History, University of Dundee.

His previous publications include The Death of Christian Britain (Routledge 2001) which controversially used postmodern theory to argue that Christian culture is dead in Britain, killed by cultural change from the 1960s.