03136nam 2200661 450 991046087120332120200520144314.00-253-01706-8(CKB)3710000000454510(EBL)2120320(OCoLC)915059055(SSID)ssj0001521264(PQKBManifestationID)12557112(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001521264(PQKBWorkID)11531479(PQKB)11216493(MiAaPQ)EBC2120320(MdBmJHUP)muse48781(Au-PeEL)EBL2120320(CaPaEBR)ebr11081759(CaONFJC)MIL817180(EXLCZ)99371000000045451020150605h20152015 ub| 0engur|n|---|||||txtccrOther pasts, different presents, alternative futures /Jeremy BlackBloomington :Indiana University Press,[2015]©20151 online resource (254 p.)Description based upon print version of record.0-253-01704-1 0-253-01697-5 Includes bibliographical references and index.A personal note on life and times -- Types of history -- Power and the struggle for imperial mastery -- The West and the rest -- Britain and France, 1688-1815 -- Counterfactualism in military history -- Into the future -- Skepticism and the historian -- Conclusions -- Postscript."What if there had been no World War I or no Russian Revolution? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo in 1815, or if Martin Luther had not nailed his complaints to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, or if the South had won the American Civil War? The questioning of apparent certainties or 'known knowns' can be fascinating and, indeed, 'What if?' books are very popular. However, this speculative approach, known as counterfactualism, has had limited impact in academic histories, historiography, and the teaching of historical methods. In this book, Jeremy Black offers a short guide to the subject, one that is designed to argue its value as a tool for public and academe alike. Black focuses on the role of counterfactualism in demonstrating the part of contingency, and thus human agency, in history, and the salutary critique the approach offers to determinist accounts of past, present, and future"--Provided by publisher.Imaginary historiesHistoryMethodologyContingency (Philosophy)Agent (Philosophy)HistoryPhilosophyElectronic books.Imaginary histories.HistoryMethodology.Contingency (Philosophy)Agent (Philosophy)HistoryPhilosophy.900Black Jeremy1955-144601MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910460871203321Other pasts, different presents, alternative futures2037513UNINA