Style in History

ISBN: 0393305589

Author: Gay, Peter

Condition: New

Peter Gays Style in History has the great merit to show that in a work of history its style is not a decorative addition to the historians narration but an integral element of the story through which its facts become alive and real. Reading Gays analysis of Gibbon and Ranke, Macaulay and Burckhardt, we understand better why they have become and are the admired masters of the historical craft. -Felix Gilbert, School of Historical Studies, The Institute for Advanced Study What does an historians style reveal? In this original and lucid guide to the proper reading of Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, and Burckhardt-great historians who were also great stylists-Peter Gay demonstrates that, style is an invaluable clue to the historian's insight. Thus, for Peter Gay, style is the key to culture, and the truth of history-as it helps to define that culture-can only be fully understood through an objective and thorough analysis of all its elements.