E.H Carr

ateam

Has anyone read E.H Carr's What is History?

Any thoughts on it?

PHB

Yeh i've read it and studied it in depth, whatcha looking for specifically, its a big book

ateam

PHB wrote:

Yeh i've read it and studied it in depth, whatcha looking for specifically, its a big book

I have to read it for college..i've heard its quite big. I just wanted to know what to expect - what is his main idea etc?

PHB

It's not actually that big, quite a small book actually, and its very simplistic really, you could read it in a day.

He just kinda talks about how historical facts don't exist, then his views on determinism and other things. It's really quite a good read, and very accessible, so don't be worried.

DadaKopf

Politically, he was a Realist theorist of international relations. His study of history, in his opinion, led him to believe that the world was imperfectible and based on the eternal struggle for power between states. The only option for world peace in this primordial anarchy is for a 'balance of power' to be struck between great powers, e.g. the Cold War.

I don't buy it, but Carr was an interesting figure. Contrary to his acolytes, he wasn't quite so Realist as hawks like Kissinger and McNamara liked to pretend, and the complexity of his thinking, based on his studies of history and philosophy, was all but transformed into a one-dimensional bastardisation. Though he hailed Western power underpinned by capitalism, he had great regard for Marx and, espexially the anarchist socialist Mikhail Bakunin, about whom he wrote a biography.

PHB

Yeh, but thats from the Twenty years crisis, not from What is history.