The Past as History

The book provides a synthesis of the development of the genre of national history writing in Europe, in particular it seeks to illuminate the relationship between history writing and the construction of national identities in modern Europe.

• Historiography
• nationalism
• national identity
• historians
• history profession
• national master narrative
• cold war
• enlightenment
• Europe
• historiography
• history
• nation

Stefan Berger is Professor of Social History and Director of the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, as well as Executive Chair of the Foundation Library of the Ruhr. Previously, he was Professor of Modern German and Comparative European History at the University of Manchester (2005 – 2011), and Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Glamorgan (2000 – 2005), UK. He has published widely on the history of historiography, national identity, memory history, and the history of social movements. 
 

Christoph Conrad is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, he lectured in history at the Free University in Berlin, Germany, where he also obtained his PhD. He has held visiting fellowships at Harvard University, the EHESS in Paris, Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Cambridge. Apart from his expertise in the history of historiography, he has widely published on the comparative history of ageing and the welfare state.

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