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Making history : the storytellers who shaped the past / Richard Cohen.

by Cohen, Richard, 1947-

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Simon & Schuster, 2022.

Historians -- Views.

Paradigms (Social sciences)

World history -- Interpretation.

Historiography.

9781982195786 (hc.)

Alternate title:

Storytellers who shaped the past

1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.

xxii, 753 p. : col. ill.; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 665-708) and index.

An epic exploration of who writes about the past and how the biases of certain storytellers -- from Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Doris Kearns Goodwin -- continue to influence our ideas about history (and about who we are ) today. There are many stories we can spin about years gone by, but which accounts come to be told, and by whom? A single author can deeply shape our understanding through the prism of their own beliefs. In 'Making history,' Richard Cohen reveals how historians, novelists, dramatists, journalists, political propagandists, and even the writers of the Bible have influenced and continue to influence the accepted records of human experience. Is there, he asks, even such a thing as 'objective' history? And what is to call someone a historian in the first place? A lively tour guide, Cohen leads a delightful inquiry into the published works and private utterances of our greatest historical thinkers to discover the agendas that informed their views of the world, and which in so many ways have informed ours. From the origins of history writing, when such an idea seemed itself revolutionary, to the practitioners of 'Bad History' ( those fiends who twist reality to glorify themselves and conceal their own or their country's behavior), Cohen's inquiry takes us all the way up through the advent of television and the digital age. With captivating figures brought to vivid light, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, from Ulysses S. Grant and Frederick Douglass to Winston Churchill and Mary Beard, 'Making history' is unusually authoritative and supremely entertaining volume. Rich in character, complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a unique exploration of both the aims and craft of history making, that will lead us to think anew about our past and the stories we tell ourseves about it."--Jacket.

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