The stakes of history : on the use and abuse of Jewish history for life /
"Why do we study history? What is the role of the historian in the contemporary world? These questions prompted David N. Myers's illuminating and poignant call for the relevance of historical research and writing. His inquiry identifies a number of key themes around which modern Jewish his...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New Haven :
Yale University Press,
[2018]
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| Series: | Franz Rosenzweig lecture series.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to this title online (unlimited users allowed) |
| Summary: | "Why do we study history? What is the role of the historian in the contemporary world? These questions prompted David N. Myers's illuminating and poignant call for the relevance of historical research and writing. His inquiry identifies a number of key themes around which modern Jewish historians have wrapped their labors: liberation, consolation, and witnessing. Through these portraits, Myers revisits the chasm between history and memory, revealing the middle space occupied by modern Jewish historians as they work between the poles of empathic storytelling and the critical sifting of sources. History, properly applied, can both destroy ideologically rooted myths that breed group hatred and create new memories that are sustaining of life. Alive in these investigations is Myers's belief that the historian today can and should attend to questions of political and moral urgency. Historical knowledge is not a luxury to society but an essential requirement for informed civic engagement, as well as a vital tool in policy making, conflict resolution, and restorative justice."-- |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xii, 180 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-170) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780300231403 0300231407 |