A Short History of History: The WorldPre-History

480 BC-476 AD

Oral Histories

Pre-Literate Societies

Engaged in Storytelling

Classical Greek & Roman

Historians Accuracy Varies…

History as Means to

Teach Morality

The Enlightenment

Attempts to discover scientific

“natural laws” to explain society & politics

1600s & 1700s

Mid-1800s

Birth of History as a DisciplineHistorians such as Leopold von Ranke affiliate with modern universities

and try to tell history “as it actually was”

A Short History of History: The USAEarly 1900s

1940s-1960s

Progressive Historians

-History as social science (positivism)-Social Darwinism & Racism-Some challenges to elite domination.

Consensus School

-Celebrated US-Emphasized political and social agreement (consensus) while de-emphasizing conflicts

Multiculturalism-Emphasis on history of racial & ethnic minorities-Environmental History-Continued interest in Women’s History-Cultural History

1960s & 1970s1980s & 1990s

Current Trends-Transnational History-Gender-Synthesis of social, cultural & political history

Early 21st Century

New Left Historians

-Influence of Civil Rights, Feminism & Vietnam…-“History from Below”-Social History (race, class & gender)