An Analysis of Richard J. Evans's In Defence of History

Book excerpt: La 4ème de couv. indique : "Postmodernist thinkers consider history to be not very far removed from a work of fiction, something dependent on historians' own interpretations of the past. Evans, however, argues that we can trust history and it is possible to be objective about what happened and what caused it to happen because historians are contrained and enabled by the surviving evidence. Evans shows how an understanding of social issues and rigorous scientific research give history shape, and why history is not simply what we make of it. He argues that this postmodernist view is contradictory and can lead to dangerous problems if we accept all historical interpretations as equally valid."