Reddit reviews The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century History and Theory

Ahh, this here is a darn good question and one that I love to pop in and not really provide an answer, but give you the tools to answer it on your own.

You see, history is not something that is definite. We can never know the whole truth--but we can do our best to understand as much of that truth as possible. What drives this truth will change, as will the idea of never bring able to find the truth. Basically, history as a subject is also a theoretical one with various methods, approaches, and philosophies of the subject. This by large is called historiography (the history of history).

The topic is something that not too many people even know about outside of history majors, it is never really taught in high schools nor introductory required college history classes, but it is as vital to the subject as, say the scientific theory for science. It essentially provides the tools to de-construct what is written, critically analyse it, and put back to together that argument either enforcing it or disagreeing entirely.

So does history have a driving force? Some argue yes, others argue no. It will all depend on your outlook on history. To give you a reference of something you're probably familiar with, we'll use a Marxist approach to history. The Marxist approach primarily focuses on the economy and class struggle being the driving force of history, but it also looks at history as a model and something that ends. We know that his end all society is a communist one, arguing that society must work its way through various stages before reaching that point--this is the driving force per say.

There is no right or wrong way of looking at this. The great thing about history is everyone values a new outlook as it gets people to re-think a subject and every different view helps contribute to understanding that whole truth. I would recommend reading up on the subject, develop your own views or adopt others. There is a great book called Houses of History which looks at modern historical theory and breaks it down into sections and discusses some of the main historians behind that theory as well as sample works for example.

Hope this answer helps.

Note: Sorry in advance for grammar errors. I always suspect it will happen when writing from a mobile.

Sound advice for everyone.

The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century History and Theory https://www.amazon.com/dp/0814731279/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_NAEIDbVEXM4G3